


Gambling With Destiny

by PhoebeDelos



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Asexuality, Bisexuality, Blood, Canonical Character Death, Demisexuality, F/M, Fix-It, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, M/M, Original Character Death(s), Puzzleshipping, Sibling Incest, Slow Build, convoluted plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:35:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 202,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoebeDelos/pseuds/PhoebeDelos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A twist of fate during the Ceremonial Duel leaves everyone saying goodbye to the Yuugi they didn't expect to lose. The pharaoh, lost and alone, places his trust in a mysterious stranger in hopes of winning his partner back from an old enemy.</p><p>
  <b>MASSIVE REWRITE CURRENTLY PLANNED</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Silent Magician... Launch a direct attack to the player!"

The duel monster raised its staff at the waterlogged command, a blinding flash shooting out across the arena, bright yet nothing more substantial than the flicker of a forged hologram. But in that place where logic gave way to fate - allowing two people to fight when they shouldn't be able to exist separately, simultaneously - that attack was as real as any bullet or knife. That strike, unable to cause any physical harm, was the decisive move in a battle of life and death... even if the soul at stake was not even alive.

The gasping echo of voices filled Atem's ears as the light died away, allowing him to see once more, and he opened his eyes slowly, no true shock in his gaze. From the moment Monster Reborn floated out of that golden box everything had been a given, and he had found a steady calm in acceptance long before the final attack struck. Vision restored, his attention stapled itself back upon his partner as everyone else kept staring at _him_... The only one he _wished_ to lock eyes with refusing to look up.

The Silent Magician faded away in a burst of millions of colors, the Duel Disks on both players' arms turning off with a quick series of noises that reverberated throughout the Ceremonial Chamber. As the electronic beeps faded away a tense hush settled over them all, no one daring to make a sound. But that lasted only a beat before Yuugi could no longer hold back his sobs, falling to the ground with it, unable to bear the weight of the choice he just made.

The sound of Yuugi's cry shattered Atem's stillness. Quietly crossing the length of the former dueling space, Atem couldn't help but smile down at his partner's bent head, the satisfaction he felt in the proof of the young man's strength at the forefront of his mind. It overshadowed any other emotions swimming through him – emotions that could not be allowed expression. No, if he were honest with himself, Atem longed to rush forward and embrace his partner until his tears dried, to ramble off confessions and absurd desires that could only selfishly undercut everything they had worked so hard to achieve. But Atem had long since learned to keep such feelings to himself, and he wasn't about to start sharing then. Not when it would only make things so much harder, so much worse for both of them.

No, what mattered was quelling Yuugi's sorrow. Stalling just before his partner, he allowed softer feelings to reign, a smile slowly forming as he finally broke the silence.

"You did it, _aibou_. You win."

The only answer was a hitch in his sobs, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to kneel down, to touch a cloth-clad shoulder with a hand actually, truly solid, as he went on telling Yuugi to stand, to embrace his role as victor. It took some more urging, Atem reminding his former vessel of his own unique strength that he considered so obvious, and so unquestionable, before Yuugi finally managed to glance up and truly meet his gaze. The searching look in those wild violet eyes tugged at the late pharaoh's composure, but he covered the weakness by pulling the young man to his feet, his gratitude for Yuugi's constant courage and guidance managing to come out smoothly, just a hint of everything else he wanted to say slipping into his voice. And, whatever he was or was not able to hide, his words did steady Yuugi enough to still his tears and speak.

" _Mou hitori no boku_..."

"I am not _the other you_ anymore."

A sharp whisper of a gasp escaped Yuugi as his gaze questioned him, the confusion swimming in his eyes warning Atem that he needed to make his point fast, before he mistook his meaning for a rejection of the name, of all that they had shared.

"There is no other Yuugi than y-"

The words died on Atem's tongue as a bizarre sensation washed over him, erasing everything he had prepared to say in his efforts to place the feeling. Yuugi apparently felt it too since he did not bat an eye at Atem's sudden silence or the removal of the hands that had rested so naturally on his shoulders. His brow simply furrowed in a mirror focus of his own.

The feeling... It was not particularly unpleasant, vaguely like catching a stray cool breeze from a door opening in another room. What was so strange was the sensation was not a physical one, nor even of the mental sort that he and Yuugi had shared for over two years. It was a chill shooting straight through the soul, and Atem was aimlessly reminded of a saying he must have heard someone say to Yuugi at some point.

_Have you ever felt like someone was walking over your grave?_

Atem was still staring unseeingly at his partner when a collective intake of breath caught his notice. Having all but forgotten the presence of the others in the room, the sound made him _almost_ jump. He managed to subdue the urge -- though Yuugi wasn't near so fortunate -- and turned his eyes questioningly towards those standing about the chamber. But their gazes were not on him, and as Anzu pointed over his shoulder with the hand not covering her mouth Atem turned around to look at the wall behind him.

That time he did jump, and he stepped in front of Yuugi without a thought as he stared disbelieving at the sight before him. The gate that should have stayed shut until he called his true name was already open. It had unsealed and pulled back its heavy doors without a sound to warn him. And what lay beyond those doors made Atem compulsively slip his hand back and grab Yuugi's wrist in a firm grip, ready to pull him as far away as possible.

He did not know what should have been beyond that gate, but everything inside him screamed that what he saw was _not_ it. There was no shining, welcoming light, nor a black darkness ready to welcome his soul into the shadows for the final time. There wasn't anything there at all. It was impossible, incomprehensible, but there was simply _nothing_ beyond that door. No color, no movement, _nothing_. And just staring at it made that earlier foreign feeling that had struck him moments ago return with a vengeance.

As he felt Yuugi tug his wrist free to instead clasp his hand with his own fingers Atem turned back to him, ignoring the confused calls of their friends as he met his partner's gaze, struggling to keep his anxiety from his own face.

" _Aibou_ , get off the stage. Grab the puzzle and-"

"I am not leaving you to face-"

Atem's order and Yuugi's interrupting protest were both cut short as a different voice reached their ears, prompting both of them to slowly turn and stare at the gaping hole in baffled wonder. Atem had not even guessed what might come out of that place... But nothing even _close_ to this could have ever occurred. What he heard was not growls and roars of a monster, nor even dark threats or whispers of a tainted spirit, the likes of which might crawl out of the dark world.

What he heard was _singing_.

The voice was very light and soft, feathery in its quiet lull as it fell over them, the fear Atem felt seeping away bit by bit. Pulling out of the protective, alert stance he had taken before his partner, he felt Yuugi move to stand at his side, the grip of their joined hands relaxing so much that only a twitch of movement would break the hold. But Atem did not look at the one beside him, his eyes fixed before him, expecting the source of that sound to arise from the emptiness. What was the point of concern, after all? Something that beautiful could only be divine, straight from the gods!

A flicker of movement finally urged him to look away - a task no one else in the room managed - and Atem could do no more than languidly stare as Yuugi approached the doorway, caught by the sheen of tears in his partner's eyes as he walked away. The sight set off a warning in the pharaoh's heart, screaming to be heard, but the balm of music fogged everything so... He could not make a sound. He simply watched in frozen, disassociated horror, as the wrong one walked through the door. The instant the last inch of Yuugi stepped into the nothing the music stopped and the stone doors slid shut with a crash so fast the stone cracked from the impact..

And immediately sanity returned to the room, followed by panic.

"What... what just happened?"

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"How would I know? Why'd that door open on its own? It's not supposed to do _that_ , is it?"

"N-no! The gate was only supposed to open for the pharaoh when his name was-"

"Who cares about that? _What the hell happened to Yuugi_?"

The cries, fighting, and fear echoing all around him didn't earn even a twitch from Atem. He had not moved a muscle since the doors slammed shut. The fact that he should be trying to calm his friends didn't even enter his mind. He just kept staring at the sealed gate, waiting for what happened to proven itself a hallucination, or a trick, or for the gate to reopen and give him back his partner. Surely, _surely_ , it couldn't be true... Not again.

But every mental cry he gave of his partner's name remained unanswered, their link severed when the items gave him his own flesh. There was nothing before him but a closed door and an empty, solitary mind.

"...Atem..."

Those closest to the duelist stalled their fighting when they heard him speak, and a wave of silence swept slowly across the group. Otogi followed Honda's surprised stare. The directing gaze of his sister turned Malik and Rishid around. Seto's coat was tugged by his brother when he didn't stop fighting with Jounouchi. Sugoroku placed a stalling hand on Anzu's arm.

He was turned away, but the way he kept saying his own name over and over, more anger seeping into his voice with every second, made the pharaoh's growing panic obvious.

"Atem... Atem... Atem!"

"Yuugi..."

" _Atem_!"

"Yuugi, it's not going to work! Just stop-"

Atem shrugged off Jounouchi's hand without looking, refusing to take his watery glare off the faded eye above, manic desperation clouding his eyes as he stepped forward to pound a fist into the stubborn door. Honda stepped up to his other side, trying to grab his arm to stop him from trying again, but he ignored him just as he did the pain that shot through his arm. But he could only manage a couple more slams of flesh on stone before Honda and Jounouchi managed to wrestle him back.

"Atem! Why won't it-"

" _Yuugi_!"

Jounouchi finally managed to catch his attention by stepping right in front of him - breaking his view of the door - and hauling him up by his coat collar, meeting his gaze even as his own brown eyes wavered with sorrow.

"Stop it, Yuugi- He's gone! He's gone..."

Jounouchi deflated at his own words, losing his spark to fight as the unexpected truth hit him too, and his grip loosened on Atem, allowing the numb man to fall to his knees and slump over into a stance near identical to the one his partner had taken just moments ago, at the end of their duel. The room went silent as some started to cry, some froze shell-shocked, and the rest simply stared sadly at the fallen pharaoh. Yet not one of them gave a word of protest at Jounouchi's presumptive claim. While no one understood what had just happened, the collective belief felt completely undeniable.

Yuugi had gone somewhere none of them could follow.

The room grew suffocating with the sorrow choking them all, but the fear of setting off something even worse kept everyone quiet. Unfortunately, even their silence could not hold back the inevitable. Those who had not been present when Rafael managed to separate the two souls both known as Yuugi were in for a baffling, cruel surprise at the agony that erupted before them, but those that had seen Atem fall apart and scream to the heavens felt no shock at the cry wrenched from that kneeling form.

They had simply hoped they would never have to hear it again.

" _Aibou_!"

* * *

The sound of shuffling cards echoed in the open desert air, not far from the stairs leading down to the ceremony chamber. The crash and cries of the duel below had just died down, and been shortly followed by a distant voice that could only be described as divine. And it had all been well within the hearing range of the solitary soul sitting in the shadows of the surrounding cliffs. Whoever it was did not move a muscle to investigate the odd sounds, or run in fear of them. The shadowed figure just kept staring at the entrance with an expectant gaze, dark eyes otherwise completely void of expression.

It was the constant shuffling of the Duel Monsters deck, sharp and rushed, that would have given away the anxiety coursing through them... Had anyone been there to see.

The shuffling only stalled when the singing did, a resounding slam of rock vibrating up through the sands. Caught in the hanging silence that followed, the person nearly bent the cards as hands tensed. Eyes caught wide and anxious on the stairs, and teeth mindlessly chewed on a bottom lip as the stranger waiting for... something, _anything_ to happen. 

" _...aibou_!" 

The heartbroken cry was muffled by the distance and yet the unknown witness flinched. Cards slid through loose fingers to glide unhindered to the sands.

It was over... The Ceremonial Duel was over...

But the true trial... It was just beginning.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yuugi..."

Anzu shut her mouth quickly and swallowed back another round of tears when her quiet call only upset her friend further, the sharp hitch in between his sobs making her mentally kick herself. She might see the man before her as Yuugi - see both of them as Yuugi - but she heard Atem deny his claim on that name, just before that voice had tricked them all and taken away the original. Calling him that now would simply hurt him more, reminding him of what had he just lost.

After Atem started screaming for Yuugi the group had reacted mostly in one of two ways. Many of them hung back, not sure what to do in the face of the living spirit's distress. But Anzu and Sugoroku had joined Jounouchi and Honda upon the stage, gathering closer to the man in hopes of comforting him. But Atem seemed in no hurry to stop his cries, leaving three friends and dejected elder staring down at him, helpless before Atem's pain. The only one that dared to move towards him was Sugoroku, but he simply put a hand on one hunched shoulder as tears gathered in his own eyes, knowing he'd be pushed away if he tried anything more.

It was probably best to leave him be... Unfortunately, fate seemed to disagree.

Only moments later shudders rumbled through the room. The sound was so soft at first that Sugoroku thought he was hearing the crackle of the lit torches, but it quickly escalated until it was thundering all around them, and his orchid eyes widened in terror as he felt the ground tremble under his feet.

"An earthquake?!" Mokuba cried out, tripping at a particularly rough tremble and only keeping his feet because his brother caught him by the back of his vest.

"Come on!" Seto demanded before turning around and sprinting across the room, his brother hot on his heels.

"Wait! The Pharaoh-"

"Rishid, there's no time! Move it!" Malik yelled at his hesitating brother, turning to run. But the pair had to stop when Isis tripped on her skirt in the rush, the two instantly turning and helping the woman up before taking off again.

"O-Otogi-san, what are you doing?" Bakura, just behind the Ishtars, stalled when he saw the dice master running the other way. The dark-haired man ignored him, quickly grabbing Sugoroku's arm.

"Come on, Mutou-san. I can't leave you behind!" Otogi yelled, silently screaming that Yuugi wouldn't have wanted his grandfather to die. Sugoroku hesitated, looking down at the unresponsive Atem, but Honda was almost instantly at his other side.

"Ji-san, we have to go! Anzu and Jounouchi can handle him!" The two managed to urge him off of the stage and towards the stairs, while behind them Anzu tried to shake some reaction out of Atem.

"Yuugi! Please, we have to-" Anzu flinched as Atem pulled his arm instantly away from her grip. He seemed perfectly happy to stare up at that closed door until the roof literally caved in on him. The fact that he might even prefer it made Anzu shudder, and then jump as the first pillar collapsed. But before she could speak again Jounouchi dragged him up by the back of his jacket.

"Do you think dying here is going to do anything, huh?! What good will come from that?! You think Yuugi would be proud of you getting yourself-" Jounouchi's well-aimed comments choked on themselves as Atem shot him such an icy look the teen dropped him and stepped back. If the pharaoh had still been wearing that puzzle of his, Jounouchi would have expected to see a golden eye over his brow.

But their attention was quickly diverted when a loud hiss came from the tablet. All three pairs of eyes widened as they saw lines growing and gaping in the brown stone of the Millennium Tablet, smoke rising from the cracks as they grew. The brittle structure of the stone started to cave in, a couple of the items shifting as the container broke apart.

The fact that he might be hurt didn't even cross Atem's mind. The only thing he knew was their puzzle, the only link he still had to his partner, was still on that slate. He rose up against Anzu's protests, ignoring the shaking below his feet, and managed to get three steps closer - his hand already reaching for the golden pyramid nestled in its brittle niche - when a hand grabbed his other arm, tugging him back so harshly his neck felt like it snapped in the recoil.

"Are you crazy, Yuugi?!"

Atem was prepared to give Jounouchi a colorful reprimand for his interference, but the words died on his tongue when the slate collapsed in on itself, the chime of metal hitting metal ringing out as the Ankh and the Scales banged against each other. All seven items fell with the brown, broken pieces of the tablet into a dark, bottomless hole as Anzu cried out.

"The Millennium Items!"

Atem stared after them, his eyes trained on the one item he'd been only a finger's brush away from rescuing. The puzzle he'd carried with him through two lives and been imprisoned within disappeared with a glint of reflective gold, and it felt like all his hopes vanished with it. Without the items the door would not open to allow him in... Or Yuugi out.

Anger sparking towards Jounouchi, Atem glared over his shoulder at the man still holding his arm, ready to snap about why he stopped him. But the blond teen wasn't even looking at him, his eyes glued to the top of another pillar starting to crack. Atem followed his gaze and noticed as well, but his reaction was nothing next to Jounouchi's curses about how the ceiling could cave in and crush them all. Thankfully, Jounouchi didn't let go of his friend's arm when he took off, virtually dragging the king along. Atem was dead weight at first, reluctant to leave the last place he'd seen Yuugi, but a large slab of stone landing on the ground not a foot from them slapped him with the fact that if he kept slowing Jounouchi down, he was going to get him killed, too. With that Atem managed to dredge up enough energy to move of his own volition, dodging a couple toppling columns as Bakura and Anzu called for them to hurry from somewhere up ahead.

But just as Atem made it to the first stone step, a flicker shot through his spirit and alerted his mind, the magic he possessed with or without the Puzzle alerting him to the fact that someone else - someone special - was near. Blind hope clouded his judgement as he stopped again, ignoring Jounouchi's irritated cry as he desperately scanned the chamber. He was almost certain he saw a familiar robed form with bright blue eyes on the other side of the room, but within the space of a blink the figure was gone. He couldn't even swear to what he had seen... But either way, it hadn't been who he was looking for.

"Yuugi, so help me, if I have to knock you out and carry you out of here myself, I-"

Jounouchi didn't even finish before Atem swept passed him, leaving him blinking comically at empty space until a falling pillar made him squawk a cry as it crashed an inch from his toes. And he was off again, meeting and passing by Atem on his way up the winding, shaking stairs, threatening to break apart under their feet at any moment.

After what could have been seconds or hours or a thousand steps later, light finally appeared, dim and garbled by the dust and bodies gathered up ahead. The last stretch in sight, Atem rushed forward on one last rush of adrenaline, only for it to die away the moment he caught sight of the sun. Where others put a good distance between themselves and the cavern's entrance, Bakura and Mokuba falling to their knees, Otogi and Sugoroku both bent over panting, and Jounouchi leaning dramatically exhausted against the side of the rock face, Atem stopped the moment he knew death was not imminent. Kneeling down on the last steps out into the open air, he stared blindly ahead across the desert sands.

 _Aibou_?

Atem waited, not sure why he tortured himself when he knew the only response would be silence. Still, his desperation to feel the precious brush of that familiar mind spurred him on irrationally, and just as irrationally he felt that same sinking despair as he had before when no one replied. His link to the boy's mind had been cut the moment he took separate physical form for the duel... But the logic did nothing to stop the heavy, damp numbness filling him, his eyes stinging from more than just the dust settling in the air.

"What happened back there, huh?!"

"What are you looking at me for, Honda? I don't know!"

"Sister, do you have any idea what just happened? I thought if Yuugi won, the door was supposed to open for the Pharaoh, not him."

"I... I honestly don't understand what just occurred myself, Malik. But I am certain that's what the prophecy said would happen. Also, the doors opening in the manner they did, and what we heard... The term 'divine intervention' seems rather applicable, actually."

Atem had to look up and glare at Isis's back for that comment - or what he assumed was her back, his vision too watery to make out more than hazy silhouettes for the first few moments. He might not know what was responsible for his partner's disappearance, but no matter how angelic that singing had been, it couldn't have been an act of the gods that had called him away. Nothing benevolent would have tricked them like that, swiped Yuugi from right out of his hands!

For once, though, he and Kaiba seemed to be in complete agreement... Even if he could dredge up no motivation to truly listen to that scathing voice.

"Divine inter- Alright, perhaps there is something to this Egyptian magic and 'two Yuugis' mess-"

"HA!"

"I wasn't talking to you, loser."

There was a pause as Kaiba and Jounouchi stared daggers at one another before the former continued, sounding like he considered Isis demented.

"But Ishtar, claiming 'the gods' called Yuugi's spirit into the underworld for no reason?"

"I am not saying I understand what happened any better than you, Kaiba Seto," the elder Ishtar sibling replied, the admonishment in her own voice nothing to scoff at as she returned the CEO's glare unmoved by his ire. "But simply that I cannot think of any way that a mortal entity could hold the power to disrupt the outcome of that battle. There are a number of things here that make no sense. But, the most pressing one is Yuugi... and why the Pharaoh still has control of his body."

Atem's stomach twisted and dropped, knowing that what the middle Ishtar sibling was saying couldn't be good, that he likely wouldn't want to hear it. He couldn't bring himself to ask, and after a long, tense pause it was Bakura who managed to questioned her, his voice quiet and uncertain.

"W-what do you mean? Why wouldn't he... Still control his body? They've shared it for years."

Isis glanced in Atem's direction, but quickly turned back to Bakura as if she was disturbed by what she saw. The look on her face made him vaguely conscious of the tears that stained his face, that he had yet to wipe away. He just didn't see the point.

"If the Pharaoh... What once chained him to the Millennium Puzzle itself seems to have been severed. Perhaps it is simply because he lost, and he was only supposed to return to the Puzzle again if he won, but... He seems to now be bound to Yuugi's body as clearly as if it were his own, and that could not be if-"

Atem's heart jumped into his throat at the unfinished thought. That... That he would only be able to claim Yuugi's body if there was no other soul present to do so. That would mean Yuugi wasn't just missing, he was... Atem swallowed to fight back nausea at the idea that Yuugi might have truly passed on to wherever he was supposed to have moved on to... That Yuugi had, somehow, taken his place.

"But.. but, can we get him back? Is there any way we can get Yuugi back?"

Silence followed Anzu's heartbroken, watery beg of a question. No one had an answer - or at least, not one they were willing to share. That was how Atem read it, at least, as he looked anxiously around the group, searching for some sign of hope among the faces. But the only thing to be found was confusion, anger, and grief. And he didn't need to see a mirror of his own feelings. Atem looked away, lowering his eyes once more to the sand between his fingers, dejectedly wondering if Isis knew of some other path into the realm of the dead. Perhaps, if nothing else, he could find Yuugi on the other side...

A moment or a minute later when a small hand came out of nowhere and reached down to gently grasp his shoulder - sneakers under slim, jean-covered legs hovering in his lowered vision - Atem was ready to snap at Mokuba to leave him be.

"Can you stand up?"

Atem froze with his mouth half-open, his brow furrowing at the voice that was certainly not Mokuba's. It was soft, concerned, strangely comforting, not familiar enough to name, and yet... And besides all of that, it was a girl's. Glancing up, Atem followed the line of that blue-clad leg up passed a plum jacket over a white blouse to find a pale face hovering close to his. He might well have backed up and given her a harsh look for invading his personal space so, if he had not been too shocked to act.

The proximity at least gave him a perfect look at the girl-- Wide eyes staring back at him from a face framed by short, yellow gold hair that fell to her chin and hung in her eyes in sharp waves. Those eyes were gray, so dark they were practically black, and there was worry and sadness in them, and yet also a touch of... happiness? Indeed, the girl's lips tugged back in a small, friendly smile. A smile Atem met by staring at her like she had two heads, or as though she had just popped out of the sands right in front of him. In his shock at her appearance Atem was left too dazed to question or hesitate when she offered her hand to him, taking it without a thought. It was only when she tugged him forward that he realized she was getting him to his feet, and he stumbled with the effort to keep his balance. A free hand shot out to steady him, holding for a brief breath before releasing him and stepping back, and Atem found his feet only to find himself staring down into the stranger's face, the girl being actually shorter than him.

He waited, expecting her to say something, yet she seemed perfectly happy to keep grinning at him in that odd, relieved way, dragging on his own befuddlement. But Atem wasn't the only one baffled by her appearance, and unlike him most were not struck into frozen silent. Anzu turned questioningly to Isis who only shook her head to show her own uncertainty. Mokuba was downright troubled, looking anxiously between the new arrival and his brother who kept glaring at the woman's back, irritation the only thing clear on his face. But it was Jounouchi who predictably lost his patience first, and barked at the girl.

"Hey!" As one the two stepped apart and turned towards the outcry, numb sullenness leaking back into Atem's expression where the girl offered only a few surprised blinks... Before breaking out in a wide, beaming smile that knocked the ire out from beneath the fire in Jounouchi's voice, morphing his would-be yell into a sputtering, thrown question. "W-who the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Ah, right!" She spun around on a heel to grin at the group, the serene sort of stillness she had expressed when dealing with Atem dashed in the light of twelve pairs of eyes all focused on her. She gave a small, nervous chuckle as she scratched the edge of her jaw in the face of their stares. Something about the move made Atem blink through his daze and impulsively look closer at her, searching for something he couldn't quite name.

"Hello- Ah, my name is Jeu-"

"She's Lucia Ravin."

Seto's clipped interruption drew everyone's eyes his way, taking in the glare on Kaiba's face before looking back at the girl, frozen with the stumble. Tension hung heavy in the air as the rest of them looked on, the two involved at each other, one scathing, and the other uncomfortable.

"Okay, uh, sure." Jounouchi finally cut into the heavy silence, expression making it clear that being given a name (or two) didn't help. But as he still floundered for further interrogation, a far more collected -- if no less baffled -- Malik took up the challenge, relieving the group as a whole by dragging the girl’s attention away from the KaibaCorp CEO.

"But how did you find this place? Only the tomb keepers are supposed to know about the tomb."

Apparently Lucia -- or Jeu -- thought that was a good question herself, given how she remained blank-faced for far longer than the question called for... If the answer were anything she was willing to share. The fact that she couldn't just tell them was finally enough to shatter the fogged passivity that kept the pharaoh silent. Lucia-Jeu-Whoever-She-Was turned back Atem’s way as he stepped forward again, closing the distance between them, but the curiosity in her gaze died when she saw the hard pain in his own. She stiffened as the emotion leaked out of her own face, but there was no turning away from his demand.

"Why are you here?"

His voice came out weaker than he wanted, throat still hoarse from his crying, but the rough edge was still enough to make everyone pause and wait for his answer without interruption. But instead of growing nervous under that threatening red gaze, she stared right back. He could tell from the cracks in her composure that she was trying to curb the urge to say something, her lips twitching and things he couldn't read flashing in her eyes. But when she spoke, whatever she was holding back? There was not a doubt or a breath of hesitation in what she did choose to say.

"I am here because you are going to need my help."


	3. Chapter 3

"I am here because you are going to need my help."

The girl's words sparked a wary, but very real light of hope among the group- But Atem met the proclamation with narrowed eyes. "Help how?"

Unflustered by his suspicion, the girl opened her mouth to reply... Only for the certainty to drain from her face as she slowly shut it again and looked off into the distance, away from him.

"Well?"

The insistence came not from Atem, but from Kaiba. The irritation evident in his voice drew a confused glance from many, but the girl kept her eyes glued on the sands, the conflict only growing clearly on her face. Finally she turned back, looking more than a touch abashed. "Honestly... I have no idea."

A few seconds' silence offered no further logic, until Atem finally had to break it- If only with a flat, numb "What?"

She shrugged, miming a 'what can you do?' before clutching at her own elbow with a slow hand. "I wasn't told what I should do to help you. I do have some theories, but..." She trailed off, her glance straying over to the cavern stairs with a soft, breakable tone that echoed with her own dissatisfaction. "I was just told that I should."

A 'by who' had nearly formed on Atem's lips when Kaiba gave a snort, earning a proper glare from him and the girl alike. "Your explanations are pathetic, Ravin. Why don't you just say what you want and quit wasting our time?"

Ravin's mouth went thin and flat, eyes screaming frustration. "Look, I can't explain it- There just isn't much more to it than that. I was supposed to come here after the Ceremonial Duel, take the pharaoh with me to-"

Atem's blood froze.

"Stop." At a word Ravin instantly fell silent, turning back his way- Only to flinch at whatever she saw on his face. "You knew about the duel?"

Her gaze skittered about, never directly on him... But she nodded in mute confession.

"And if you were coming to see me, you knew I would still be here..." Atem trailed off, searching for some sign that he was surely wrong. But the gathering nervousness in her face told him otherwise, and his final, true point came out in a thundering tone. "Does that mean you knew _he_ wouldn't be?!"

"..."

The silence ate away at him as he waited, his eyes boring into her lowered brow, silently screaming at her to say _something_! An eternity, or perhaps only a second later, he closed the distance between them. He heard Anzu cry some protest, but he couldn't even make out what it she said. The only thing he was aware of was the sensation of clawing his hand into the front of the strange girl's shirt and tugging, forcing her to look at him. The fact that she wouldn't quite meet his eye even _then_ made him want to shake her.

"How could you possibly know that?!"

Ravin flinched again under his screaming, but when she actually _met_ his glare her dark eyes shone determined. She opened her mouth and let out a strangled 'I am-' only for the sound to die halfway out. She gave an odd look, like she had swallowed something horrible, and then squeezed her eyes shut in clear pain.

Atem instantly let go, afraid he'd hurt her, but the agony didn't leave her features until she shut her mouth- Replaced by a trapped desperation as she looked at the pharaoh. "-I can't say."

"What kind of crap is that?!" Jounouchi snapped, looking ready to run over and roughhouse her himself. But Anzu beat him to the punch, if not literally. Stepping forward, she bowed to Ravin, not noticing with her head down that the other girl flinched at the sight of the dancer and glanced away from her bent from, as if simply _looking_ at her was uncomfortable.

"If you know where Yuugi is, or anything about what happened to him, please tell us! We need to-"

"Mazaki-san, stop." The request was quiet, and when Anzu looked up again the stranger's expression and voice were both gentle, as if afraid to distress her further. "I swear, if there was anything I could tell you about him, I would in an instant, but..." She trailed off, and slowly shook her head before practically whispering. "I'm sorry..." An awkward silence fell in the valley as Honda stepped forward to place a placating hand on Anzu's shoulder, prompted by her near silent cries of shattered hope. Ravin herself looked ready to collapse, unable to look at Anzu's crumbled form a moment longer.

Atem had no more tears to shed, but he still felt a bitter stab of disappointment. The repeated jumps between paralyzing grief and fury had worn him down to the bone, and he could barely dredge up the energy to ask, "If you aren't here about..." He had to stop, unable to bring himself to mention his partner's name. "-then why are you here?"

"I came because I need to show you something." Ravin nodded off to her right, down one of the winding paths out between the cliffs that hung over their heads. "There is an underground, formerly sealed chamber in Luxor that I think might have some answers."

"Underground... What are you speaking of?" It was Isis who chimed in, calmly protesting in confusion. "I have never heard of any such chamber."

"The tomb keepers were not informed of it." Trying to smooth the wrinkled front of her shirt, the girl either didn't notice Isis's incredulous stare, or ignored it. "It was a... special situation, and even most on the Supreme Council are unaware of it."

This was too much for Isis, and her usually regal composure cracked. "What?! That is not-"

"Ah, I understand." For the first time since Yuugi managed to dispel all three God Cards during the duel, Kaiba was smiling— If the sardonic expression could be called that. "She must have had Pegasus help her bribe the government into hiding it - _if_ it exists that is - just like he bought his own way into exploring Egypt as he liked. After all, she _is_ his ward."

"What?!" Jounouchi gawked at the CEO before he, and everyone else, turned to Ravin with a new bout of alarm. For her part, the girl looked downright exasperated with Seto, and met his glaring look for look until Honda chimed in.

"So, what- That makes you like that guy Tenma?"

"No, Honda-san." She countered with a head shake. "Pegasus is my guardian, not my mentor or teacher. But yes, he did help me hide the chamber. It was the only way I could protect it," she argued, turning her eyes on Isis. "And anyone that might try to explore it. That place is..." Her voice trailed off as she chewed on her lip, saying nothing else... But her tone made it clear that whatever she wasn't mentioning, it wasn't pleasant.

Atem, wary of Isis, Kaiba, or Jouunouchi jumping in before he could speak, rushed in with his own question. "And why do I need to see this place?"

"I'm not certain if it will help, or if anything will happen, but..." Her expression turned distant as she spoke, words heavy with memory. "That chamber is where I learned everything I know about, everything. So, you might be able to find something there yourself."

Silence fell again as everyone waited on Atem's answer, but he himself focused on Ravin, searching for some sign of what he should do in the confusing twists of her expression. No, he did not trust her- _Could_ not. But if what she said were true... He had nothing else he could do. He had no clues to follow, no enemy to fight, his friends could not help, the Millennium Items were lost, the door to the afterlife closed. Every path he could possibly take had been cut off- Save for the uncertain one this girl laid out before him.

If he turned her down, there may be no other chance to find Yuugi.

"...very well, I will go."

"Yuugi?!" Honda instantly yelled, shocked by the quiet agreement. Letting go of Anzu's arm, he stepped forward as he yelled a protest. "How can you trust her?!"

"I agree." Malik frowned in the direction of the girl, jumping in with far more calm but no less suspicion. "She might be leading you into a trap."

"Do you have a better idea?" Atem's counter came out harsher than he intended, but his hesitant guilt washed away when the shocked group stayed silent, at a clear loss of what to say. And the pharaoh went on, a grim satisfaction settling over in his bones. "This is the only lead we have, and I won't turn it down just because the source is questionable." He glared at Kaiba when he started to speak in obvious protest, but quickly became aware of the CEO staring at the tear stains still on his face. Atem roughly rubbed them away before turning back to Ravin. The girl looked- _Hurt_ was the only word for it, and a surprising amount of illogical regret washed over him.

He ignored it.

"If you want to show me this place, then take me there."

The Ravin girl visibly relaxed with the decided agreement, giving a diminutive nod and flash of a forced grin. "Good... I won't be able to take all of you, but-"

"Oh, like _hell_!" Jounouchi suddenly rushed forward, towering over the much shorter girl as he stepped protectively between her and Atem. Seeing the look that shot across her face, the sullen pharaoh had to silently envy Jounouchi's ability to intimidate her in a way he himself seemed incapable of. "If you think we're going to let you just waltz off with him alone, you're out of your mind!"

Silence fell, Ravin visibly striving to find her voice. Eventually she swallowed hard and finished her sentence. "But... there is room in my car if two people want to come with us..." Things grew decidedly awkward as the tall blond leaned back out of her personal space, and Ravin's gaze started jumping about again, mumbling a quiet addition. "It'll take nearly an hour to get there driving, much less on foot..."

"...oh."

"Jounouchi..." Anzu glowered at her friend, clearly thinking he should apologize- And that that did _not_ qualify. Jounouchi glanced in her direction as embarrassment swept over his face, but he quickly recovered and set another stubborn glare on the small girl before him, as if daring her to protest against his demands. "Well, I'm coming then."

"All right."

"Good."

They both looked thrown off by the easy agreement, until Ravin moved the moment along by turning back to the group at large. "And who will be the fourth?"

Honda and Anzu both looked ready to claim the last spot, but someone else beat them to it.

"I will," Isis said as she came forward, trying to hide the slight hobble in her step. "You should have someone there familiar with what to look for. If it has some connection to the texts or information on the rituals I have studied, I will recognize-"

"No, sister." Malik cut in as he touched Isis's elbow, shaking his head. "You need to rest that ankle, not walk around some ruins." A pensive sort of reluctance played on his features for only a breath before something of characteristic determination returned to his features, his words hard with insistence as he spoke to Ravin himself. "I will go. I should be of some help if it's needed."

"-okay then." The girl's glance lingered on Malik with a queer sort of wonder, and when she finally turned back to Atem it was only to stare at _him_ in turn. She didn't stop until he quirked a brow at her, earning a sudden grin and head shake for his trouble. "I will be right back."

"Right..." Atem mumbled as she walked back up the path, disappearing around a corner of stone. A surge of panic hit him the moment she was out of sight that he could only put down to paranoia that she would leave and not return, taking his chance to find his partner with her. He was even tempted to follow her, but a light tap on his shoulder prompted him to turn- And find Bakura at his side.

"Um, Yuugi-san? I managed to grab this when we left the cavern. I wasn't sure if you wanted it or not..."

The pale haired teen presented him with a tote bag, and Atem recognized Yuugi's duffel – the one he'd carried the Millennium Items in for the ceremony. Swallowing back the lump that jumped up in his throat, Atem nodded his thanks and stiffly accepted the bag and swung it over his shoulder. Trying not to think about what it might hold... Who it all belonged to...

"I don't know about the rest of you having lives," Kaiba suddenly said. "But I have a business to run. I can't wait around while you figure out what is going on or what to do." He shot a glance in Atem's direction, clearly set on telling him something. But apparently he didn't like the expression on his face, given how he grimaced and glared towards Jounouchi instead. "Tell Ravin she can expect a call from me about all of this."

"What do I look like, your messenger b-" Jounouchi practically growled when the CEO turned away before he could finish, walking back the way he had come with Mokuba trailing after him. "That-"

"Let it go, man." Honda shook his head.

"Yes..." Anzu echoed as she looked in Atem's direction. Seeing him looking at them, she shot him an encouraging smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. However it might have warmed him, though, Atem could offer her only silence, and she soon turned back to Jounouchi and quietly said something to him.

"Of course I'll look after him!" Jounouchi burst out, throwing a grin towards Atem that the pharaoh didn't even bother returning, knowing he'd fail miserably. But the blond quickly sobered and spoke to Anzu with a surprisingly heavy, soft tone. "Just make sure you do the same for Jii-chan while we're gone, you hear?"

The very question disturbed, prompted Atem to search the small group for Sugoroku with sudden, stinging awareness. His throat tightened when he found the elder Mutou standing off to the side, staring at the caved-in entrance of the ceremonial chamber. It didn't take a genius to know what he was thinking, and Atem didn't think he'd ever seen Yuugi's grandfather look so tired... So small.

He had nearly gathered the never to go over and speak to him when the sound of a motor drew up close, and a black, open top jeep rushed around the corner and stopped a few yards from the group. The girl didn't bother turning off the engine as she called over. "I don't have a trunk for your bags, but you can stick them under your seats!"

"Thanks!" Jounouchi yelled back as he rushed for the vehicle, jumping into the back with Malik just a step behind him.

Atem watched the two settle into the car, but didn't follow just yet, turning instead to those left behind. His friends were striving for smiles with varying success as the remaining Ishtars nodded to him, a quiet concern in their eyes. The last he turned to, though, was Sugoroku, and the two shared a glance of matching, silent pain until Atem managed to promise "I will return soon." Earning a short, mute node, Atem finally moved for the jeep himself, sitting down in the front and Yuugi's blue duffel bag like it was a lifeline.

"Hey- Ravin, was it?" Malik's voice came from behind, his tone uncertain over the name before settling back into easy curiosity. "My sister said that you should take us back to the pier when we're done. Will we be back soon?"

"Just call me Jeu, Malik-san," she replied as she moved the car into gear and moved in reverse. As she spoke, Atem looked to his side and watched those left behind grow smaller and then disappear as the jeep followed the curves of the stone valley, until there was no one left to see. "And this shouldn't take long. I can't say for sure, but if we miss your boat I can always call for another, and... Atem?"

Jolting against the hold of his seat belt, Atem looked at the girl with a dazed blink, staring at her profile even as she stayed focused on the road. Hearing anyone use his true name so casually... It wasn't something he was used to. Even his close friends, who had known his name for a good month, still called him Yuugi.

Eventually, getting no word in reply, Jeu peeked at him out of the corner of her eye, a grin quirking at her lips. "You should buckle up. This ride can be pretty bumpy."

* * *

Jeu's warning couldn't have been more of an understatement.

Annoying twists and turns among the rocks quickly gave way to jarring bumps and jolts as Jeu merged onto a beaten path that wound through the Valley of the Kings. Any sense of wonder they might have felt at the ancient sites they zipped passed was squashed beneath the bumps in the road and their individual distractions. Atem himself was staring at the dash in front of him, trying not to think about anything, Jeu's eyes were glued to the shaky road, and Malik had stated his familiarity with the tombs early on and settled on staring bored - yet oddly transfixed - at the sandy horizon.

And as for Jounouchi-

"Gah, I can't stand it anymore!" The blond yelled and, glancing back, Atem watched Jounouchi tear off his coat, leaving him in his blue tee as he wiped sweat off his brow. "It's so freaking hot out here!"

"It _is_ getting well passed noon." Malik replied dryly, apparently as unbothered by the heat as he was by Jounouchi's discomfort. Atem didn't comment himself, but he _was_ growing pretty hot himself- He just wouldn't chance unbuckling long enough to take off his jacket. Not when any bump might knock him right out of the jeep.

"Which means it's only going to get worse, right? I'll die of heat stroke before we even get to this place! Gah, and we'll still have to drive back in this blasted-"

Jounouchi went silent in the middle of a word, and Atem glanced over to see Jeu had picked up a water bottle stowed between the seats and held it over her shoulder without looking back. When the water wasn't taken from her, she spoke up. "Don't worry, it's unopened. Although I can't say it will be cold."

"Uh, thanks!" Jounouchi, sounding surprised, leaned forward to take the offered bottle. He caught Atem's eye in the lean, looking ready to say something, but his gaze dropped down to his friend's lap instead. "Are you going to take that off at some point?" Confused, Atem looked down as Jounouchi settled back and saw that 'that' was his Duel Disk, still attached to his left arm. He had not taken it off.

Moving to release the disk, he listened as Jounouchi spoke to Jeu again, curiosity in his voice. "So... have we met somewhere before?"

"Pardon?" Something in Jeu's tone caught Atem's attention and he paused while moving the disk into the duffel. But there was nothing to read in her face save the concentration of a driver.

"You look kind of familiar. I don't know what it is, but... Were you at Duelist Kingdom or something? Kaiba said you know Pegasus, so-"

"No, I wasn't on Pegasus's island anytime during his Duelist Kingdom tournament." Jeu gave a very short glance Atem's direction, and he could swear he saw something similar to regret flicker in those eyes before she was forced to face forward again as the road climbed another hill. "But you might have seen my sister while you were there. Pegasus painted a number of portraits of her, after all."

"Portraits?"

Silence filled the jeep, Atem himself unable to understand Jeu's meaning. When he thought back to Duelist Kingdom his mind was sidetracked by memories of Yuugi... That had been the first time he was truly able to speak to him. The recollection left him staring sullenly over the hills for a while, but a sudden yell from Jounouchi made him jump, Malik kick the back of his seat, and Jeu's foot slide on the gas, making the car slow down until she recovered herself. "Oh! You mean that girl Pegasus almost married! What was her name? Celine, Cecel-"

"Cyndia, yes." Jeu gave in somber affirmation, throwing a weak smile over her shoulder. "She was Pegasus's fiancé, but she died before they turned eighteen and could marry."

"Oh, so... You're her sister... And that's why Pegasus looks out for you?"

"Well, yes, our parents were long dead by then, I was still young, and he was around a lot when I was little, so..." Jeu gave a small shrug as an awkward silence fell, and Atem looked away, feeling like he was intruding just witnessing the remains of stale grief flashing on her face.

Unfortunately, his attention fell back to his lap and the Duel Disk there, sitting on top of the duffel bag. He was halfway through putting it inside again when his eyes were caught on the card dispenser, his deck still sitting in it. He slowly pulled the cards out, putting the Duel Disk away and letting the back drop to the floor as he glanced at the top card of his deck: Dark Magician. The blue eyes of the monster stared back at him, but Atem's focus was inward, locked on the memory of when he formed the deck in his hand.

_"So you've finished, aibou?"_

_"Mou hitori no boku!" Yuugi stood from his seat, looking at him in pleasant surprise before understanding flashed over his face. "You were waiting for me to finish my deck, weren't you?"_

_"Yes." Atem returned the smile focused on him. Only gratitude showed on his face, as he had spent the last few hours quenching the sad resignation that licked at the edge of his senses. "I cannot see the deck of my opponent, after all."_ _They fell silent, and Atem's smile slipped as he grew serious, his tone dropping with it. "Thank you... for taking on this last challenge for me."_

_His dear partner nodded in answer, his sustained smile not undermining the sincerity of his own words. "I will use everything I have to fight you."_

_Atem gave a hum of assent, knowing the claim to be true. Whether Yuugi wanted to do this or not, whether_ _ he _ _wanted to do this or not, he knew they would both give this duel everything they had._

_"Well, now it is your turn to make a deck." Yuugi glanced at the cards still spread over the table, not noticing that Atem didn't look away from the boy's face for a moment. "But let me warn you, I know the weaknesses of your previous decks, and my own is aimed to take advantage of that weakness. If you don't take this seriously, you will be sorry."_

And now he was. Even though Atem had taken Yuugi _very_ seriously he had still not been prepared in the end. He had lost- with that very deck. At the thought he the cards so hard that all forty bent together in his grasp. Moments ago, Atem felt little beyond numb pain moments. But suddenly he was just _livid_ that the cards had failed him. Not because of the defeat itself, but what followed the loss. If he had only won the fight... If he had only returned to the puzzle and his partner, he would not have lost Yuugi! The major holes in his reasoning did not occur to him, too blinded by anger as he focused on the flimsy slips of plastic in his hands. Every reasonable counterargument that could have so easily flowered never took seed in his thoughts, his mind clinging to the 'what if' he created where he didn't end up having his heart ripped to shreds. It just kept repeating, if only he had won, if only he hadn't failed!

If only, if only, _if only_ -

He acted without thinking, tossing deck over his shoulder.

"What the-?!"

Malik and Jeu glanced back at Jounouchi's strangled outburst, and the driver immediately slammed on the brakes. The jeep screeched to a halt stop would have knocked Atem literally through the wind shield if he hadn't been strapped in. But the stop still jarred, and steadying himself against the dashboard he turned to Jeu, ready to snap, only to find her staring back at him... Looking like someone had just punched her in the gut. Before he could question why, he heard Jounouchi getting up.

"Damn it, Yuugi, what did you do that for?!" Jounouchi glared at him for what he had clearly witnessed, while Malik, apparently having missed it, kept looking between them like he expected some explanation for such an illogical move. With none to give, Atem could only glare back... And in any case, Jounouchi didn't wait around for Atem to respond, throwing himself bodily over the side of the jeep and racing off after the cards.

"Leave them!" Atem called after the blond, yanking himself out of his seat as fast as he could get off his seat belt and open the door. Jounouchi didn't even slow down, though. Atem grit his teeth and trailed in his wake, spitting out words in slow, deeps tone that relayed his anger more than any screaming ever could. "What good are they? They didn't help me defeat _aibou_ , and if I had managed to, he wouldn't have-"

"I think he would have disappeared either way."

The soft interruption froze the pharaoh in his tracks. He turned, stared at the back of Jeu's head, but she didn't turn around. He slowly approached the car door he'd left open, not to sit back down, but to simply take in the girl's profile, watching her stare at her own hands, clutching the wheel so tightly her knuckles were white.

Hearing that from their small, frustrating guide infuriated Atem more than it could have if anyone else had dared to say it. The girl had not even been there! Gritting his teeth, he stubbornly waited for her to look up. The only sound was the wind and Jounouchi's hurried footsteps, Malik trying to get his attention with a pointed "Pharaoh-"

Atem slammed his hand down on the car door, making the whole vehicle shake and his arm scream from the impact. Jeu and Malik both jumped, the latter leaning stiffly back in his seat while the former turned her head to him in shock. Words spilt out of him, a dark satisfaction rising as he saw the girl tense beneath his loosed frustrations.

"What do you know about it? You weren't even involved, save for the fact that you could have _stopped_ all this from happening, and you didn't!" Jeu flinched and looked away with a tortured sort of sorrow, but still he pressed on, determined to make her face it, answer him. "Why am I even following or listening to you?! No matter what you say or do now, it won't change the fact that he's gone, and not coming back! I can _feel_ he is out of my reach, and I don't need you to show me any tomb or ruin to prove it! I..."

Saying it himself... Atem's rage swallowed itself. He dropped to his knees, his hand on the car door the only thing keeping him from collapsing fully to the sands. Malik, still in the back seat, stuttered with would-be action, but made no move towards the pharaoh he had once dueled- Had fought time and again and _never_ seen so destroyed. Before he could decide how to respond, though, the soft click of a belt announced Jeu's own rise from the car, shutting the driver's door behind her before she walked slowly, evenly around the jeep.

Atem didn't notice her until he felt the door under his hand dip slightly from added weight. Reluctantly raising his head, he saw Jeu on the other side of the door, her hand resting mere inches from his own as she looked down at him. He returned her glance warily, but his exhaustion stilled any further remark he might give, leaving them staring sadly at one another until Jeu finally spoke, her voice so quiet that Malik, still inside the jeep, could barely make out her words.

"It's true, Atem. I knew what was going to happen after your duel." Jeu admitted, but Atem's rage struggled to stir beneath his misery, and she pushed on. "I was aware of everything that happened to you long before it occurred. The night the puzzle was solved, Death-T, Pegasus..." Jeu cut herself off as she named her guardian, guilt screaming across her face as she glanced at a suddenly uncomfortable Malik, his gaze twitching and settling again only when Jeu's attention didn't linger on him. "Battle City, Noah Kaiba, Tenma, Orichalcos-" Jeu paused again when Atem suddenly looked away. The mere mention of that fiasco struck him with shame, the reminder of how his actions during that time had almost cost him his partner hanging poignantly heavy in his mind. The memory only stung the more, now that he had lost him for a second time.

A light pressure on the back of his hand pulled him from his thoughts, prompting him to blink a hazy focus towards the hand that had moved at touched his own. The contact silenced his mind, leaving a confusing sort of calm in place of the anguish that had there moments ago. No explanation presented itself to his mind, though, and after a few heartbeats he looked questioningly back towards the girl, who spoke again only when he did.

"I knew it would happen, and I let it happen, because I had to." Her voice was pleading, asking for some forgiveness or patience Atem found himself hard-pressed to produce. But he listened all the same, not noticing when Jounouchi stepped up behind him, or Malik slid closer to them within the jeep, the better to hear.

"I know that sounds like a stupid excuse, and I can't explain it... But it's the truth. There are a lot of things I'd like to tell to you that I can't." Jeu's gaze shot up from where it had settled on their hands, the intensity behind those dark eyes matching the sudden fervor in her tone. "But I _can_ say that the moment you emerged from your tomb alone was when I _could_ start helping you. And I might not know how to do that, and I may be flying blind now, but-" She suddenly beamed at him, the surprising optimism in her face catching the breath in his throat. "Why would I have been asked to help you now, if that help could do no good?"

Atem stared back at her, frantically longing for the speck of hope she offered him. But he could only hold her eager gaze for so long before ducking his head, looking down so no one would see his face. He managed to swallow back the urge to let his emotions loose again, and as he waited for his shaky composure to return, he felt a hard tap on the back of his shoulder. Glancing back, his reformed deck appeared beneath his nose, the Winged Dragon of Ra with grains of sand stuck to its surface filling his vision. Atem was slow about it, but eventually accepted the cards from Jounouchi, shame at his actions making him avoid his friend's gaze.

"Don't you dare pull something like that ever again, Yuugi." Jounouchi's warning was surprisingly calm, given his initial outburst, and Atem could only assume he had been comforted by Jeu's words, too.

Using the door he still leaned on for support, he stood. He could feel all three staring at him, but he just kept looking at his deck. His mind flashed back to the duel he had won with those cards... His partner's soul had been on the line then, too. And after his pathetic duel with Rafael, when he _failed_ Yuugi, he had given in to despair- Thought there was no chance he would ever see his partner again. But in the end, he got him back.

And when he was caught in the world of his memories it was _aibou_ who found _him_. Time and time again, fate tried to tear them apart, but each time they reunited. They would not be denied.

This time... This time felt so much worse, in ways Atem could not explain but felt in bone, but perhaps... _Perhaps_ there was something to what Jeu said.

Maybe, it was just Atem's turn to find Yuugi again.

"Jeu?"

"Y-Yes?"

Atem scrutinized the wary, hopeful girl out of the corner of his eye, before turning and slipping back into the passenger seat in one fluid move. He moved his hand back to just beside hers, saying one short command as he pulled the door loose and shut it. "Drive."

He didn't look any of them when he spoke, but he could practically _hear_ their relief.

"Right."

* * *

Thirty-five of his cards had been recovered, including his pair of Dark Magicians and the three God Cards. It was actually quite astounding, and while he couldn't get passed his pride or shame enough to voice it, Atem was grateful to Jounouchi for collecting them. A gesture that really should have never shocked him, given the blond _was_ the one who jumped off a boat to try to save the Exodia cards.

No one had spoken for a while, but the silence was a comfortable one, and Jeu eventually turned some music on, letting a song play softly over the wind and motor, the English words unclear to Atem. But they could have been any language and he would have failed to hear it, his attention caught on counting and checking his cards, silently apologizing to them for taking his grief out on them. He was so focused on his inner thoughts that he didn't even notice when the jeep pulled off the dirt road to merge into actual, live traffic as they went onto a bridge, crossing the Nile itself. But eventually the car stopped near the top of yet another hill and Jeu turned off the music. Atem looked up, and was instantly struck dumb to see the familiar empty desert interrupted by the inclusion of a large, bustling city. At first he didn't understand where they were, but upon further inspection he realized that this civilization had built itself up around still standing remains of the past... Broken, collapsing ruins of temples completely surrounded by modern roads and buildings.

A part of him said not to look for it, but his maroon gaze scanned over each ancient site in sight, finally pausing on the largest one he could see. His stomach bottomed out as he picked out the tall columns, walls, and obelisks of his former palace. A part of him distantly wondered if it would have been easier to handle if it hadn't still been so intact... So recognizable.

A soft sigh caught his attention and he numbly turned to Jeu, finding her staring back at him sadly. And a skidding look passed her showed him that, while Malik might be staring with an interested, confounded frown, Jounouchi had frozen with something of the same unpleasant déjà vu _he_ felt shining on his face...

The car started down the hill and Atem attempted to ignore the irony of the situation, but he found it hard to push away his bitterness as they slowly approached the city, what remained of the place where he had spent his life, three thousand years ago.

This wasn't the way he had expected to come home.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

"Jounouchi-san, please stop."

"Don't use 'san' for me, Jeu. That's way too-  _Hey, try and give me the finger again, you ass-!_ "

Jounouchi's scream strangled on itself as Malik wordlessly reached up and pulled him down into his seat by the back of his shirt. He'd been standing up in the car to yell at a guy that nearly ran into Jeu's jeep because he was talking on a cell phone, and then the jerk had the nerve to  _honk_ at  _them_! Still seething, Jounouchi ignored the exasperated, if vaguely amused look Malik shot him and put his hands on the back of Jeu's seat to lean forward. "Seriously though, does everyone drive like that around here? How do you put up with it, much less  _survive_?!"

"You get used to it."

The jeep slowed to a stop at a red light, and feeling eyes on him, Atem tore his gaze off of the skyline to look at Jeu. She was staring right back at him, concern and pain etched in her gaze. "...what's wrong?"

"Ah, nothing!" Jeu jumped at the question, but shook her head and grinned in a far from convincing manner. But Atem was in no mood to prod out unwilling confessions, and so sighed to himself and returned to watching the streets. It was become a reoccurring theme, catching Jeu looking at him for no clear reason and brushing it off as soon as he mentioned it.

"So... what's this city called, again?"

Atem flinched at Jounouchi's question. Even if he was drawing on little more than the knowledge from history books he read through with his partner, the innocent inquiry felt... Personal. Half of why he had accepted he needed to move on to the afterlife - whatever he personally felt - was this world was so far removed from the one he had once known. Even if he had no conscious recollection of being there in that city, beyond the impressions imprinted by his memory world, he still felt the gap between him and the world around him in the present... Felt the sting of familiarity with the ruins around them.

Whatever the case, Malik saw to Jounouchi's curiosity, for which Atem silently thanked him. "It's named Luxor now, but this area used to be known as Thebes, and before that  _Niwt-Imn_ , 'The City of Amun'. And before _that_ it was _Waset_ , 'The City of the Was'."

"Okay... and what is a 'Was' supposed to be?"

"The sceptre of the pharaoh..." Atem mumbled softly to himself, barely conscious of saying anything, and then left wondering what his own words meant. Only the last few days of his life were known to him, everything else covered in a fog, and a true understanding of the gods he once worshiped remained one of many holes in his memory. All he had was vague inklings and untapped knowledge – and the occasional unconscious slip, such as that one.

A couple stop lights later, they parked on the side of the road just across from the ruin's complex. In Atem's mind, he could clearly see a pair of obelisks and pylon towers that marked the entrance to his palace, but even from a distance he could see the silhouette of only one obelisk before the pylons. He couldn't make out any details of the structure beyond, but he could tell there were gaping holes in the palace he remembered from the memory world, and “new” buildings in the complex he didn't recognize at all. Jeu turned off the jeep, but Atem remained frozen in his seat. A good minute passed without anyone moving, waiting for him to make the first move. Jeu eventually gave up on him, though, and got out of the car herself, pulling her seat forward once out so Jounouchi and Malik could get out while the once pharaoh took off his jacket and stowed it away, taking advantage of the moment to gather himself together to face whatever lay ahead.

_Aibou, give me courage..._

Swallowing hard, he got out, carrying Yuugi's duffel bag with him. Jeu was busy grabbing something from under the car seats and Malik was inspecting the ruins with an assessing eye, but Jounouchi looked at Atem with a question in his gaze, as if asking if he really wanted to do this or not- if he was alright. Obviously, he  _wasn't_ , but voicing his pains wouldn't help anything, so Atem just threw him a sorry excuse for a smile. And whether he believed it or not, his friend accepted the effort with a grin of his own and a thumbs up.

"Here we go." Jeu chimed in with a reluctant air as she came back up with a black backpack, pulling it on and she passed through the trio and led them across the street, ignoring a couple impatient honks from cars looking to rush by. A small security building on the other side of the road marked the entrance to the blocked off perimeter of the palace, and one of the guards standing in front of it put up a hand in a halting gesture and said something in stern Arabic. Before any of the rest of them could react Jeu stepped forward and replied in the same language, pulling a card out of her pocket and offering it to the man. As the man looked over the identification Malik spoke up, sounding as shocked as Atem himself felt. "You speak Arabic?"

Jeu looked back at him in similar surprise, but after a beat an amused grin played at her lips. But it wasn't until she got back her card - offered with a bow and quiet word from the guard - that she answered. "I should hope so. I've lived here for over six years." Atem stumbled at the claim, and when Jeu saw his expression -- along with Malik's and Jounouchi's -- she just kept on smiling and waved off to their left, in the direction of the Nile. When they followed the move, they found she was pointing across the roofs of the surrounding modern structures. "You see that tall, beige building there, beside that wider white one? That's my apartment complex."

Atem stared at the indicated building as Jeu pocketed her card, caught on the idea that she lived so close to the remains of his home... Though with a little thought he realized it shouldn’t shock him so. She likely settled close to the site on purpose, although he wasn't sure  _why_. But his theory was all but proven when she met the question in his gaze with another twitch of the lips and wordlessly passed the security station. After one last glance at the riverside building, Atem turned to follow suit, almost running into Malik as he rush passed him to catch up with their guide.

"Jeu-san?"

"Hmm?" The girl hummed curiously, not slowing her pace.

"That guard said the council ordered that the palace be closed for the day so workers could try and preserve a wall that recently crumbled. Why did he allow us through when you just showed him your license?"

Jeu breathed a noise of understanding before answering, not noticing Atem narrow his eyes at her as Malik indirectly translated what the man at the post had said. 'Closed?'

"I have a friend on the council that listed my name for special authorization. I can visit certain areas at night or on holidays, or in situations like this. And, if it isn't obvious, there's no wall that needs fixing."

"O- _kay_ , that's it." Jounouchi rushed forward and cut off Jeu's path, glaring down at her suspiciously as the girl stalled just short of running into him. "How the hell do you have all of this power, huh? I may be new to this country, but even I can tell it's not normal for someone to be able to waltz into places like this. Do you have the whole government wrapped around your finger or something?"

"Of course not!" At the wilting defensiveness of the protest, Atem surmised that Jounouchi had hit the nail on the head. Jeu tried to sidestep the tall blond and walk on, but he only blocked her path again. By that point Atem had caught up to them and could see that she was not happy with being pushed like that. She even glanced at _him_ as if for help, but he just stared right back at her without so much as a twitch of his flat stare. He might have dropped most of his suspicions that the girl was some strange trap, or threat, but nonetheless he was getting tired of the mysteries surrounding her, himself, and having one or two questions answered suited him perfectly.

"...Fine." Sliding her eyes back on Jounouchi, Jeu held up a pale hand with her pointer and middle finger extended, sounding very purposely patient, a somber sort of frown stamped on her face. "There are two reasons I'm allowed open admission to these sites. One, I can read and speak Late Egyptian fluently, so the council likes to use me for quick translating. Two, you know Pegasus based Duel Monsters on Egyptian tablets, right?" Atem's breath caught in his throat as she said that. But she didn't notice, going on with her explanations for the benefit of a baffled Jounouchi. "He's been working on more cards, and he asked the council to allow me in local sites to investigate for any tablets or other depictions that he could use for inspiration. Okay?"

Jounouchi slowly nodded, even though he looked more confused than ever. Taking it as acceptance, though, Jeu stepped around him, and Atem watched the short girl continue on as he remained frozen on the spot. Kaiba, Pegasus, Isis’s council... she was connected to so many around him. How he could have never seen, or at least  _heard_ of her until that day?

The only answer he could find was she had been actively hiding from him.

Whatever his suspicions, though, Atem was falling behind, and he jogged forward until he was a step behind Malik. Yuugi's duffel bounced against his hip as he moved, a constant reminder of why he was voluntarily walking into that architectural tomb. The quartet fell silent, and Atem mutely wished someone would speak up, talk about something mundane. Anything would be a blessed distraction from the urge to inspect his surroundings. As such, Atem breathed a sigh of relief when Jounouchi finally dared to voice what was on his mind, hesitant excitement in his voice. "Pegasus is making new cards, huh?"

The rest of the walk was uneventful, filled with Jounouchi’s inquiries on cards and Jeu’s answers and dodges around efforts to get ‘early release tidbits’ out of her. Atem was careful to keep his eyes fixed on the backs of the three with him, hoping to keep himself from noticing too many of the changes in the deserted ruin. No, it was Jounouchi’s own note of a familiar landmark that finally forced him to acknowledge his surroundings again, stumbling to a stop and swinging about with their guide and tomb keeper when the blond gave out a sudden, loud laugh.

"Ha, sorry guys!" Jounouchi waved with a sheepish grin. He walked between the pylons the rest of them had just passed through, staring back at where three thousand years ago a lofty door would have blocked his path. "I was just remembering when I tried to walk through here the first time. It didn't work out so well."

Atem could only assume he meant something that happened in the memory world he'd never heard about, and kept on walking, passing a confused Malik and amused Jeu in his effort to keep moving. But before long the girl was back in front, leading them towards their now obvious destination. With every step it grew harder to ignore the empty weight in his gut as they drew closer and closer to the palace itself. He wasn't sure which was worse... Noting landmarks that were long gone, like a garden that was nothing but stone rubble, or the things that looked nearly as they did in his memories... One of the long, rectangular lakes he recalled from his ‘memories’ was still intact, lotus blossoms and all. He was glancing at the floating plants when he realized Jounouchi had gone silent, his prying for card information no longer drifting back to him. He looked up, and followed Jounouchi's gaze to see whatever silenced the teen.

And suddenly 'well preserved' seemed so much worse.

The palace remained, the structure itself still standing, but it was a sad sight to behold. Many pillars were missing and a corner of the roof had eroded and cracked away. The balcony he had once stood on to overlook the surrounding courtyard had collapsed in parts... And right under the slipping balcony was a large, gaping hole that gave a peek at the shadowed interior.

Atem swallowed the lump in his throat, steeling himself to face whatever lay inside. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he turned to be greeted by a determined Jounouchi, a concerned Malik on his other side. Giving a nod to both, he turned to Jeu, expecting her to lead the way through the front doors.

But she was already walking away, and  _around_  the palace, not into it.

"Where are you going?"

She nodded to the large archway of a front door before continuing on her way. "The roof caved in a few years back. We'll have to use one of the servants' entrances."

Thrown off by this information, Atem trailed behind the others as they meandered around the building. As they rounded the corner he glanced in the direction of where the Houses of Tablets once stood, and saw none of the pyramid-shaped buildings remained. The courtyard they had been in was completely decimated, filled with debris and deep pits showing where people had been searching the grounds. Atem was tempted to ask Jeu what they were doing digging up that area, if not out of anger for the disturbance of the ground than at least out of concern of what they might unknowingly stumble across, but the issue was swept from his mind when they approached the small side entrance of the titanic building. The first room Jeu led them into was small and unadorned of any engravings, and Atem felt an odd sense of familiarity as he stepped into the nondescript space, even though he had no recollection of that part of the palace. He had never come that way during his time in the memory world... And yet he distinctly, confidently knew that they were standing in an old storage room.

"Uh, what are we supposed to do now?"

Hearing Jounouchi, Atem followed him through the room's only door and found himself in a long, well preserved hallway. It was lit only by the distant sunlight coming from behind him, leaving them in near darkness. He had to squint to make out Jounouchi's form farther down the hall, and was about to go towards it when he felt something being thrust into his hands. His surprise made him drop it, a heavy 'thump' coming from near his foot.

He heard a sigh before Jeu spoke in the darkness. "I hope you didn't break that. I've only got three of them."

A second later came a soft click, and a ray of light pointed down, revealing a flashlight on the ground beside his boot.

"Sorry," Atem grumbled, reaching down to pick it up.

"It's fine. I must have surprised you, ri-"

While inspecting it, Atem accidentally shined his light in Jeu's face. He quickly lowered it and looked away in embarrassment of his own slips, mumbling another apology to the squinting girl. "Perhaps someone else should handle this..."

"Don't worry about it. A little light isn't going to kill me." Recovering quickly, Jeu handed a third flashlight to Malik and led the way through the curving hall. It was slow going, given all of the twists in the path and rubble to look out for, but Atem thought it wasn't more than a couple minutes before they rounded a corner and ended up in another large, open space. The roof was completely gone, a few clear remains of it making up large stones of rubble across the ground, and they turned off their lights as the midday sun shined down on them again.

While Jeu started to meander around the room in a way that spoke of looking for something rather than leading them anywhere, Atem took advantage of the opening to look around himself, see where they had ended up. He had assumed they were back in the entrance hall, but in only a few moments he recognized that space had been opened by the collapse of an above floor, along with the roof, and one look up at the southern end of room made his stomach flip. On a small bit of the broken upper floor remained a flight of stairs, leading up to what looked like a broken pedestal of sorts. It was missing its back and an arm, making it likely unrecognizable to most... But he knew.

The collapsed space above had been his throne room.

_Thump!_

Blinking out of his sour daze, Atem looked around at the room and the others, trying to place where the sudden sound came from. Jounouchi looked just as confused as he felt as he climbed off of a large slab of stone he'd sat down on, while Malik was staring at Jeu like she had just said or done something odd. Atem didn't understand why, since at a glance the girl wasn't doing anything except looking up at the hovering remains of pillars, carved into the surrounding walls. But suddenly, without warning, she sidestepped to the left and slammed her heel down on the old stone tiles.

_Thump!_

Atem's eyes widened as the small blond pouted at the ground like it was frustrating her. As he struggled to react she turned and walked three steps towards the broken throne, and did it again.

_Thump!_

"Jeu, what are you doing?!" Atem glared at her back, ready to intervene however necessary before she brought what little remained off the roof down on their heads. Just as he came close enough to touch her arm she brought down her heel a final time, and a hollow noise rang out in place of the other hard slams.

The sound stalled Atem with his hand only loosely on her arm, gawking down at the large tile beneath their feet. Looking up, he found a triumphant grin pasted on Jeu's face. "Found it!"

"Found what?"

Jeu moved off of the tile and pulled him with her without answering, forcing him to let go of her as she removed her pack.

"Jeu-san, what was that? It sounded almost like-" Malik stumbled in his questions as he had to step back. He and Jounouchi had walked up together, only for the latter to get the girl’s backpack dropped into his arms— Making Jounouchi trip backwards in shock while Malik watched him fall with a baffled, idle eye, making no move to catch him.

"Sorry, could you hold that for me?" Jeu asked far too late, and knelt down, feeling along the stone tile. It looked the same as any other in the room. but Jeu slipped her hand through a thin crack on its edge and pulled up, revealing that that tile was thinner than any normal slab there should be.

Beneath it lay a narrow fall into a seemingly bottomless drop, and Atem strained to catch sight of the other end as he mumbled "...how did you know that was there?"

"I fell down there when I was a kid and got trapped, when the original tile that was here broke under my feet." She knocked on the removed stone section, then stood up and took her bag back from Jounouchi, who was too busy gawking at the hole to react. "But replacing the stone with a new, proper tile would have made it impossible to get back in, so I had this special one installed."

"I take it when you say ‘as a kid’, you mean before my sister was working with the government,” Malik commented in a casual tone, crossing his arms as he looked on from where he’d been standing from the start. “It’s a convincing cover, but she would have had people watching all important areas like this, since we were both looking for the God Cards, and would have noticed an incident like that... And I had this palace searched, myself."

"Yes, it was well before you two were around," she supplied without reservation or detail, and when Atem ticked his glance over to them, he saw that Jeu was busy digging through her bag... Apparently ignorant of Malik blankly side-eying her.

"Uh-huh, that's all well and good, but how are we supposed to get down there?" Jounouchi cut into the interplay, leaning precariously over the hole that was just big enough for a grown person. Atem reached out and tugged Jounouchi back by the arm, not keen on seeing him fall in headfirst and breaking his neck.

"We jump, of course." Before Atem could process what she said, Jeu shrugged her bag back on and stepped straight into the hole, disappearing from sight.

"W-wha?!"

"Jeu-san?!"

" _Jeu!!_ "

Atem crouched down at the edge, his heart hiccuping in his chest, just in time to catch light flash on and light up the space within, revealing that the drop was no more than six or seven feet to the bottom. Jeu's head wasn't more than a foot or so below his knee, and it turned up to show the girl frowning in confusion. "What?"

Atem glowered down at her as Jounouchi heaved a sigh behind him and yelled. "Damn it, Jeu, don't scare us like that!"

"Ah... Sorry." She looked off to the side. Atem couldn't see it in her turned away face, but he assumed she was embarrassed. Shaking his own head, he grabbed the strap of his duffel and slid off the edge himself, joining Jeu below ground. Once he regained his balance he looked pointedly at her and received a sheepish grin in return before her already large eyes bugged out at something over and above his shoulder. Before he could turn around she let out a strangled squawk and grabbed his hand, tugging him out of the way just a moment before Jounouchi landed where he had just been standing.

"Gah, it's even darker down here than in that hall..." In the dim light Jounouchi didn't notice the exasperated glare Atem sent his way as Malik joined them, landing on his feet in a smoother and much more _considerate_ way than Jounouchi had. Once they were all below the blond spoke again, and it took Atem a second to realize he was speaking to Jeu. "But, how did you get stuck down here? I could pull myself back out by just stretching, so if you jumped-"

"Like I said, I was a kid... I was barely four feet tall at the time."

Atem assumed she was giving one of her shrugs, but he couldn't see since neither her nor Malik's flashlight was pointed her way. He belatedly turned his own light back on, pointing it in the only direction they could go from there. The hidden hallway his light discovered flashed back at him, the tight passage of dark floor, walls and ceiling reflecting back hundreds of hazy echoes of his own image. At first he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him in the darkness, but soon Jeu and Malik's lights helped brighten the narrow path enough that he could see perfectly... And indeed, every bit of surface around them – even the floor beneath them -- was reflective as a black mirror. "...what is this?"

"Is this place made of obsidian?" Malik's question sounded distracted, like he was focusing on reading some of the hieroglyphics etched into the wall, though his own reflection was clearly getting in the way.

"It seems to be, although it must have been reinforced somehow." Jeu moved to walk down the hall, but Jounouchi caught her by the shoulder before she could take a step. Looking back, she gave a grin at Jounouchi's expression. Atem couldn't see it, but he assumed he was looking at her the same way he was - like what she had said made as much sense as Greek. "Obsidian is a black stone that acts like a mirror, but it's usually too breakable to be used for building like this. Anyways, come on. We still have a ways to go."

She waved for them to follow with her flashlight, making a streak of light bounce off of the walls.  And, again they were off, Jounouchi rushing to keep up with Jeu while Malik struggled to pry himself away from reading the walls. But Atem hesitated, his attention distracted by a chill filling his bones. It wasn't that he was afraid to move on... The feeling was prompted by his surroundings, not his own head or heart. Even in the growing, suffocating heat, Atem had to fight back shivers. He would almost guess someone had used dark magic there recently. The sensation was just so familiar, as when he or Pegasus or the spirit of the Ring used the Items during duels... A destructive magic lingered within those walls, blackening his senses.

Steeling himself to ignore the growing alarm that tickled his mind with every step, Atem trailed behind the others down the long, straight hall that slowly sloped downwards with the appearance of steps, carved out of the black stone like everything else. He could tell the others sensed that _something_ was wrong, because Malik glanced tensely over his shoulder every now and then, like he was hearing something creep up on him, and Jounouchi would stall and stare at the wall, as if he'd seen an out of place reflection. Within minutes Atem's hair was standing practically on end. He was so caught up in looking for anything out of the _ordinary_ that he was the last to notice when they had come to the end of the hallway. But he couldn't possibly miss the strangled gasp Jounouchi gave, the sudden stop making Malik run into his back.

"Jounouchi, what's-" Malik fell silent when he sidestepped the blond, completely blocking Atem's view. Concerned that what shocked them might be dangerous, he rushed down the last steps and quickly pushed Jounouchi out of the way, making him stumble backwards. Jounouchi shockingly gave no protest, but he quickly understood why when he got passed him. His wine-colored eyes went wide at the sight, barely comprehending what the two beside him said.

"Y-Yuugi, this is..."

"...the ceremonial chamber?"

Atem didn’t answer, too busy starying into a macabre copy of the room that had collapsed just an hour or so ago. From the blank walls and carved pillars to the distant, shadowed stage, every single detail was the same – The Ceremonial Chamber, re-imagined in pure, shimmering black.

Despite his shock, Atem quickly recovered as the memory of his partner disappearing in this room's twin came roaring back to him. He shot off across the chamber as wild hope coursed through him, ignoring Jounouchi yelling his name. He dropped the heavy duffel when it slowed him down, trying to keep his flashlight steady on the other side of the room so as to make out the other end. But confusion and then crushing disappointment hit him him in drowning waves as he came closer, his eyes adjusting to the darkness. There was the stone framework of a door beyond the pedestal, the eyes of Horus bookmarking the silhouette of the puzzle engraved upon the upper beam... But there was no split eye in the center, no crack of an opening going down the middle. There wasn't even a single carving within the frame.

No gate, no door, nothing.

He walked mechanically up the small stairway, bypassing the tablet double without a glance as he approached the empty wall. His hand came up to touch the black surface, finding it cool and smooth as glass. But it was just as unyielding as the stone door he pounded on, and the only thing he felt when he reached out with his senses was that same lingering darkness, the byproduct of strong, evil magic. He heard a soft 'thump' and turned just enough to see the duffel dropped at his foot, Jeu standing up straight, a few wide, distant paces from him and the door. She offered no smile or words of comfort, too distracted with staring at the wall with her own haunted expression. But her presence alone helped bring him back to reality enough to hear Malik.

"What is this? It's different from the original."

Atem turned to look at whatever was confusing Malik only to stop when he stepped on something. Turning his light down with a flick of the wrist, he found broken stone beneath his foot, many other crumbling shards spread across the ground. It wouldn't have seemed odd if they were still up in the palace, but he didn’t see any other signs of age or erosion in the underground chamber. Plus, the pieces were light beige, and everything else there was black. Bending down, Atem picked up the piece he'd stepped on, inspecting it under his light. There was something very familiar about the stone, but he couldn't quite place it....

"Pharaoh, what do you make of this?"

Glancing up, Atem saw his fellow Egyptian was pointing down at the tablet between them, and he stood up whilst pocketing the bit of beige stone. Come over and looking at it properly for the first time, he realized the Millennium Stone's copy was not made of the dark brown, cracked stone he remembered, or the ‘obsidian’ around them, but a deep blue stone flecked with white specks across its surface.

"I know this, it's..." Atem stepped closer to the stone tablet as he tried to remember, but he couldn't put a name to the stone. Glancing searchingly to Jeu, she nodded to him, though her melancholy showed no sign of dispelling.

"It's lapis lazuli, a type of stone thought to amplify awareness, or magic."

A pang of alarm shot through him and Atem swung around to face her. "Then this tablet would make the Items' power even stronger?"

"What? Oh, no!" Jeu shook her head rapidly, finally coming out of whatever dark daze she'd fallen into. She threw one glance at the blank black wall behind her before jumping away from it, clearing her throat as she walked quickly over to the stone tablet. Atem was confused by her odd behavior, but was more interested in what she had to say. "I mean, I don’t know, but I  _think_ it's supposed to subdue the dark power of the Items, not strengthen it. Lapis lazuli strengthens, yes, but it also _purifies_. In fact..." She gave a wary glance about the room, half-mumbling to herself. "Obsidian is also a protective charm. For someone to go to all this trouble, I can only assume this place is meant to contain evil."

"Uh, okay, I get the 'warding off evil' thing and all," Jounouchi said as he stepped up onto the stage with frustration on his face. "But why does this place look just like the cavern Yuugi dueled in?"

"I don’t know. I imagine one room was modeled after the other, but as to why..." She shrugged before pointing at the nearest pillar to their left, hieroglyphics covering every inch of its surface. "All I know is that it says there that this place was 'designed by the Gods' themselves."

Atem's attention turned to Malik spoke, his gaze distant while he quietly mumbled. "The chamber created to house... I think I know this place!" He looked around with such sudden foreboding that he was instantly alert, waiting with baited breath for him to explain. "When I was training to be a tomb keeper I read everything available on the Phar- You," he corrected himself with a glance at Atem. He stared at the pillars as he spoke, clearly trying to recite something half-forgotten. "'On the night the Nameless Pharaoh inherited the crown, a great, unspeakable evil came down from the heavens to devour his soul...' I don't remember all of it, but it was pretty much that you managed to defeat and bind that evil, and ordered that it be sealed away in a chamber created by the gods, so that it could never be unleashed again.'"

Atem stared numbly at Malik, surprised by the tale and how he had no memory of it. Jounouchi was more scoffing, but he was covering fear if his jumpy behavior was anything to go by. "That might have been something to mention  _earlier_?"

"If I had thought that something I read as a kid would be important today, I would have."

Atem ignored the exchange, focusing on Jeu, who was staring shocked at Malik until he grabbed her attention. "Were you aware of what is sealed here?"

Her dark eyes flicked over to his own, but the criticizing look she must have found there made her tense, shrugging slightly as she covered her anxiety with a thin layer of calm. "I didn’t know the details. The inscriptions are vague about what it is, so-"

A spark of anger shot through him, and he tried to stifle it. But it must have shone through to some degree, because as he approached her, Jeu stepped subconsciously back before steeling her stance, refusing to drop her uncertain gaze from his. "You  _knew_  something dangerous was here, and you still led us down here with no warn-"

"She knew it was safe, because what was housed here broke free over seventeen years ago, Pharaoh." Atem froze at the answer that came not from Jeu or any of his friends... But from behind him. The voice was familiar...

His best friend gave out a strangled shout, and the youngest Ishtar sounded like he was choking, and let out a dark hiss of ‘ _You-_ ‘ as Atem slowly turned around. The lost king could only stare in numb shock when he saw the transparent form hovering at the bottom of the stairs. 

Empty blue eyes gazed back at him, and when he spoke, Shadi’s voice was as flat and hard as the smack of a stone. "And Jeu Ravin thought you would take the risk, as that entity is the one responsible for the disappearance of Mutou Yuugi."


	5. Chapter 5

"And Jeu Ravin thought you would take the risk, as that entity is the one responsible for the disappearance of Mutou Yuugi."

Suffocating silence fell as all four teenagers took in the transparent form hovering just steps away from them, on the steps they themselves had taken up to the platform not moments ago. But his words shook them more than his arrival or appearance ever could, and after a beat of disbelief Atem let out a deep roar of a yell filled with equal parts horror and rage. "What?!"

Shadi didn't even flinch. His intransigence did nothing to calm Atem, but Jounouchi took the silence to voice his own outraged question. "Yuugi was swiped by a  _demon_?!"

The very idea seemed so ludicrous, like the foolish worry of an ignorant child. But the silly suggestion was apparently  _true_.

"He isn't a de-"

"Where is he?!" Atem interrupted the ghost. Any consideration of Jeu's suspicious calm or Malik's silent, burning, wide-eyed staring or the ghost's very  _presence_ after his apparent rescue and death in the world of his memory was completely absent from Atem's thoughts, wiped away and left with no room in his mind when it was filled with need for an answer, a reply,  _something_. But he was met with only apathetic silence. Unable to take it, he reached out for the front of the Egyptian's robes only for the material to slip through his fingers like air. He lowered his hand, thrown off by the known but now  _proven_  reality that Shadi was nothing but a ghost. But the shock didn't last, desperation quickly nipping at his senses. If Shadi disappeared, or left without explaining himself, what would he do? "What happened to him?!"

"I can't say."

Atem stared, disbelief initially freezing any protest he could give within his throat, but Jounouchi was quick to pick up the slack, bitter sarcasm dripping from his own voice. "Gee, why does  _that_  sound familiar?"

He didn’t turn to look and check what Jounouchi was doing – if he was just saying that under his breath or directly aiming it at the girl he was clearly throwing the words at – but when Jeu stumbled through a weak protest of "Jounouchi-kun, that’s not-" Atem cut her off, refusing to let his attention, or anyone else’s, wander off of Shadi. He couldn't let the unexpected chance for answers, however reluctant, slide by.

"What do you mean you can't say? Are you trying to hinder me in finding-"

"You misunderstand," Shadi’s gaze hovered on the black wall beyond them rather than Atem himself, as if trying to read something there... Or perhaps, simply trying to avoid eye contact. "I simply cannot become any further involved than I am allowed."

"Involved? What are you talking about?"

"Pharaoh... I am here to relay a message to you from the Gods."

To his credit Atem kept his jaw from dropping and just stared at Shadi, waiting for his words to somehow assemble into something resembling sense. The rest of the quartet felt no such compulsion, though. Jounouchi’s eyes bugged out, Jeu choked on a gasp, and Malik, while perhaps managing the most collected reaction, even given his clear struggle to even converse with the robed ghost, stuttered through an attempt of a reply. "Th-the  _Gods_... You mean-" The Egyptian trailed off, his true question left hanging in the air, unsaid but certainly heard. Was Shadi speaking of Ra himself, Thoth, Set, _all_  of them collectively? But the ghost said nothing, and Malik tried again. "Why would they want to speak to us?"

"Because the whereabouts of the Pharaoh's former vessel is not the only issue at hand."

Atem instantly bristled, cutting in with a scathing, stumbling "My  _former_ -?!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Jounouchi steamrolled over him, managing volume and articulation where the pharaoh’s mind _burned_ , taking his will to even form a proper response with it. "Are you saying what happened to Yuugi's not important?!"

"Quite the contrary," Shadi stated in would-be reassurance, his dead tones untouched by their collective wrath, and offering no comfort. "Mutou Yuugi is essential, and I do not deny that unearthing his whereabouts is a priority. But what I am here to say pertains not to him, but to the Devourer - the one that stole him away."

"The Devourer," Malik echoed, the tense, furious shock that had marked his features since Shadi’s appearance ebbing slightly as he considered the term, weighing it on his tongue.

"And who is he supposed to be?" Atem pushed on with unmistakable impatience, waving to indicate the room itself. "Do you mean the evil spirit sealed away here, and now gone?"

"Yes... As I said, he freed himself from this prison seventeen years ago. And-" Shadi's gaze flicked over Malik and Jeu in turn. The former stared at the figure with the same frozen recognition he had since spotting Shadi, while the latter flinched, unable to meet his eye. He made no comment on the reactions, and where Atem would have sought an explanation the ghost distracted him with answers. "He has been using that time, and his time sealed away, to prepare for this day, when you intended to crossover."

"The ceremony?" Questions flew through Atem with that epiphany, and they came out of his mouth even as they formed in his mind. "You mean our duel? How would that matter to him? In fact, how did he even know when it took place? Has he been watching us?"

The disturbing feeling he had constantly sensed since they entered the chamber came to mind, and he glanced about in no particular direction, impulsively expecting a spirit or demon to emerge, its presence called out. But nothing happened, and the heavy scratch on his senses lingered in the same distant manner it had all along.

The ghost gave a stiff shrug, as if he were not used to his own muscles. "Possibly, but he didn't need to watch you to know when your duel would end. He has been aware of  _everything_  that has come to pass since before it happened."

"What, you mean like  _her_?" This time Atem did turn back, and he found Jounouchi pointing his thumb towards Jeu.

The girl, for her part, was clearly stricken by the harsh comparison, and struggled to say something, choking on whatever it may be beyond an initial call of "Jounouchi-kun..."

"Something to that effect," Shadi interrupted the mini-standoff. "But Jeu Ravin has used that knowledge to help keep events on track to this point... The Devourer has used it to his advantage, preparing a trap for you for the last three millennia."

"Wait, this guy's been waiting around three thousand years just to screw Yuugi over?" Jounouchi gave a snort and crossed his hands, scornful of the idea. "What's his beef that he'd wait all this time just to get back at him?"

"Sealed the evil away so that it could never be unleashed again," Atem quietly mumbled, looking to Malik for confirmation. "That was what you said, wasn't it?"

"...yes," Malik considered, a pale eyebrow piquing in question. "So you think he wants revenge for when you trapped him?"

"Well, I suppose I get that," Jounouchi admitted, but quickly glowered and turned on Shadi. "But what the hell does that have to do with Yuugi?! If  _that's_  what the bastard is pissed off about, he could just confront the Pharaoh directly-"

"Because he thought separating Atem from him, using him would be a better strategy," Jeu suddenly jumped into the conversation to say, regret for even suggesting it sweeping over her face as she caught Atem’s eye. "If he thought taking Yuugi would upset you, make you vulnerable, then waiting until your bond was severed for the ceremony duel to strike makes sense."

"He didn't do it to weaken the Pharaoh." Shadi's interruption caught everyone’s attention, but where the rest were confused, thrown by the sudden jumps back and forth of explanation, Jeu was the only one who looked like she’d been punched by the flat counter.

"What?"

"You are correct about the effects it might have, or did have." Shadi glanced at Atem, clearly referring to the 'weakened' comment. He responded by clenching his fist and tensing his shoulders, but otherwise didn’t protest or interrupt the ghost. "But that was not the Devourer's primary motive. He took Mutou Yuugi so that he could start the game properly."

The air chilled in Atem’s lungs as his eyes flashed, silently demanding the specter to explain himself, and echoing only one word when nothing else was forthcoming. "Game?"

"Indeed." There was the  _slightest_  hint of agitation in Shadi's voice, so slight Atem might have been imagining it, putting his own feelings onto him. "The Devourer is acting out a bet he made with another god long ago. That bet is being carried out through you, Pharaoh."

His frozen chest shattered as he lost the ability to breathe, and Atem, left unbalanced by claims of divine intervention in his misfortune. His agony and the danger to Yuugi's soul were just part of a  _game_?! He couldn't respond beyond dropping his numb gaze to the sleek black floor, shaking from his unleashed feelings. Close to becoming literally sick, he latched onto the sound of Jounouchi's feeble voice like a lifeline.

"So, so what? Yuugi's a pawn in, in all this? And he's already been...  _used_?" The blond teen struggled to keep the tough front he was famous for in place, but it was failing fast. Beside him, Malik stared blankly ahead, dazed… Perhaps by the titanic implications, yet his brow furrowed as if he were in pain. And Jeu... Going by her pallid face, Jeu was closer to collapsing than _he_ was.

"No, Yuugi is still important to the game. And his role isn't just the trigger."

Atem all but snapped his neck turning back to Shadi, setting wide, desperate eyes on the hazy man. "Then what is he in this, and what am I?"

"Mutou Yuugi is the object of the game, Pharaoh. And you are the player."

Atem swallowed hard against the hope welling up in his throat. "The goal... is for me to get him back?"

Shadi shook his head, his composure untouched by the hope collapsing before his eyes. "The goal is to discover his whereabouts, not he himself. If he is physically retrieved is irrelevant to winning... Though locating and retrieving could, naturally, go hand in hand."

Atem stiffly nodded, but nothing more, too internally crippled to react any further... And he startled so badly at Jounouchi’s shaky laugh that he nearly fell over.

"So, all we need to do is find Yuugi? We would do that anyway!" He beamed a withering grin and slapped a hand on Atem's shoulder. "No worries, Shadi. You can tell the Gods – or whatever – that even if it takes forever, we'll find him! Right, Yu-"

"You don't have forever."

The calm interruption made Jounouchi stutter to a halt while Atem wearily raised his gaze back off the floor... And he could swear he saw hesitation in those muted eyes.

"The day of judgment will come at sunset on the celebration day of Ma'at, she of light and order. On that day you must return here, having recognized the fate of your former vessel. If you do not come, or are still unaware of what's become of him, then you lose..." Shadi's lids fell halfway over his eyes as the air chilled. "And if you lose, the Devourer will take your life, and soul, as he meant to long ago... And Mutou Yuugi's along with it."

 _That_  knocked Atem out of his stupor, his eyes clearing and widening as his back straightened sharp as a board.

"And if he wins he will gain your powers, your rights as a king, and there will be little chance of any other keeping him from his goals, whatever they may be. That said-" Shadi's eyes flicked over to Jeu, and as Atem’s awareness expanded to include her once more, he was tempted to reach out and steady her. She looked ready to collapse from the shock. But his own unstable balance kept him in place, and he could only hope she wasn't going to faint on them.

"I urge you to listen to Jeu Ravin. For what lies ahead, it would be an advantage to have her with you."

Jeu let out a choked, high pitched hiccup that was probably a try at a scoff, and Jounouchi moved from Atem's side to hold her upright. And Shadi did not wait for whatever protest or comment she had been set to give, rolling on with his apparently entrusted messages. "There are things she cannot share with you, that she is bound to keep to herself by the same source that granted her her, insights... But between her and what will yet come, the pieces needed to solve this puzzle _will_ be handed to you, Pharaoh... It is simply up to you, and you alone, to put them together."

And as expected as the challenge was, the weight of the task Shadi entrusted to him still felt like a millstone dropped onto his back. Even as the ghost spoke with a clear note of finality to his words, Atem had to swallow the rock in his throat and _try_ to press for more. "But, where do I start? If there is a time limit-"

"You do not need to begin the search yourself," Shadi cut in. "The 'starting point' will come to you, and from there you will find your way. Until then you must simply wait, and survive." His eyes glimmered in the dark as he whispered. "For enduring... It will be a challenge, my Pharaoh."

Before Atem could question his meaning Shadi disappeared on the barest wisp of a breeze, leaving four, confused teenagers alone in the dim light of three flashlights. The strange communion with the dead still hung in the air, though, and as the moments wore on into silence one of them collapsed beneath its weight. But it wasn't Atem or Jeu who fell face first to the ground.

"Malik!"

* * *

"Malik-kun... Malik-kun!"

The Egyptian groaned, but otherwise didn't respond to Jeu’s efforts to rouse him by shaking his shoulder. He did finally flinch back into awareness, though, when Atem waved his flashlight in his eyes. "-what happened?"

"You fainted man, that's what happened!" Jounouchi's incredulous cry earned an annoyed, bleary-eyed glare from Malik that reassured Atem more than anything else could have. But he still watched closely as the Ishtar heir sat up, Jeu supporting his back.

"How long was I out?"

"Only for a minute. Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes... I saw... _him_ disappear, and then the stinging in my head grew..." Simply trying to remember made Malik touch his temple with clear, gingerly care. "It was like someone was stabbing me in the eye."

"That doesn't sound good." Jeu earned a 'gee, you  _think_?’ sort of look for her assessment, and she glowered back at Malik before continuing. "I think we better get you out of here as soon as possible, and down to the hospital."

"No, that's not necessary. It's mostly gone now," Malik reassured with a small grin, put on clearly for show rather than feeling. "I would benefit more from a good meal than a doctor, trust me."

"Ha, well... I suppose we can find some-" Jeu's amused reply was interrupted by a loud, horrified screech that made her, Malik, and the on-looking Atem all jump around. They turned as one to find Jounouchi running over, pointing back at the blank, framed wall that lacked a door.

"There-there was someone in the wall! I was picking up the flashlight Malik dropped, and I looked up and-"

"It's just your reflection, Jounouchi," Malik interrupted as he massaged his abused head, not taking well to the yelling. "The obsidian reflects, remember? So-"

"It was  _not_  me!" The underdog glared down at Malik before looking beseechingly to Atem- as if  _he_  had all the answers. "I mean, it looked  _kind of_  like me, but that guy had dark skin and black hair, and he was wearing-"

"Some kind of ancient clothing?" Jeu finished for him, smiling when Jounouchi turned his shocked stare on her. Atem himself blinked at her in surprise, but she just shook her head and grinned reassurance. "It's alright, don't worry about it. It's just a soul mirror."

"Soul mirror?" Jounouchi echoed. Clearly this didn't answer anything, and yet Atem felt a twinge of awareness at the term, as if he _should_ recognize it.

"Yes, a soul mirror shows you yourself, but it's your 'hidden self' that's reflected in the mirror." Jeu's words stuttered a beat as Atem stood up from his kneel beside Malik and approached the wall himself, but continued on with her explanation behind him. "It’s not mentioned a lot – It’s the only version I’ve ever seen. And what I read doesn’t agree on what the ‘hidden self’ is... Some say it’s your soul’s true form, others that it’s a ‘you’ from a past life. One local I asked about it even said soul mirrors will show if another spirit is possessing your body."

Atem wasn't sure what to make of that, but he was quickly convinced of the _second_ theory when he stepped over and raised his flashlight up to look at the wall in full light, as he hadn’t the first time he approached it. He nearly dropped the light when he found himself face to face with his dark-skinned reflection, dripping in gold and clad in the white tunic and violet cape he had worn within the world of his memories. His eyes widened and froze in sync with his own, staring back at him. Two pairs of identical maroon orbs... save there were twin lines of tears trailing down from his double's eyes, grief and misery shining within their depths. Atem tore away from the macabre reflection, only to find Jeu staring at him from across the blue tablet, concern in her dark gaze.

"What's the matter? What did you see?"

"Nothing, it's just me. We need to get moving." Walking quickly back, he helped Malik to his feet and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, before realizing Malik was still too weak to stand under his own weight – whatever his claims of good health – and he was too small to support him.

"Hey hey!" Jounouchi stepped up and took Malik's other arm, and between them they managed to keep him up, while the pale haired man grimaced.

"I told you I'm fine."

"Yeah, well, I'd like to see how 'fine' you are after you climb all those stairs, get out of that hole, and walk through the palace on your own." Smirking at the look he received, Jounouchi glanced over Malik's shoulder at his best friend. "Hey Yuugi, did you get the flashlight while you were over there?"

Atem met his question with a confused stare, then looked back for it. The flashlight still lay on the ground near the tablet, its light still on and falling on Yuugi's duffel bag, which he had dropped in surprise at Shadi's appearance. Before he could let go of Malik and retrieve it Jeu zipped passed him, waving him away with a grin.

"Go ahead, I'll get it! Your hands are kind of full anyways. Just don't go climbing out of the hole without me."

Atem nodded mutely at her back as she walked away, staring after her until Jounouchi and Malik's walking demanded his attention.

"Yuugi, you've got the only light left! Care to point it in front of us?"

"Sorry."

The remaining member of the quartet smiled at the dying away conversation, circling around the tablet and retrieving the duffel as it faded away. Jeu was picked up Malik's light and moved to turn it off, only to pause upon happening to glance up. The good humor seeped out of those grey eyes as they stared into the soul mirror, taking in the reflection cast within it. Jeu displayed no surprise or shock for what was there, though... Nothing but a grim resignation, and somber determination... An expression mirrored back by the reflection that shared something of the teen's own size and features and air, but otherwise was a seemingly completely different person.

"Hey, you coming, Jeu?!"

The callback jolted through Jeu like a shot, and the blond turned about, expecting to find Jounouchi _there_. But there was no one. His voice had just echoed back through the tunnel and across the room. They were all out of sight, already in the tunnel ahead. Relaxing with a heavy sigh, Jeu stalled, hesitated uncertainly until Atem added his voice to Jounouchi’s. "We can't go on without you!"

The darkness that marred Jeu’s expression while alone faded into a soft warmth and, thankfulness, for the words... Atem was likely just pointing out how the three boys couldn't drive or run the jeep without the keys- But still. Lips twitched into a sad sort of smile before parting to yell after them. "I know, I'm coming!"

Stuffing the extra flashlight into the duffel, Jeu stalled just long enough to meet the reflection’s gaze one more time, taking in the sight of the blood-drenched boy... Blinking eyes of purple in place of gray. Jeu watched him stare right back as they both tugged a bag strap higher up a shoulder, before in sync they turned to go- Jeu Ravin in one direction, Mutou Yuugi the other. The two retreated into the darkness as one, Jeu whispering into the emptiness of the black chamber.

"I know,  _mou hitori no boku..._ "


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright, time to chow down!" Jounouchi announced as he dropped a tray covered with food onto the table, right in front of the three already seated. But no one jumped at the chance to take anything the teen had brought them. Jeu was too occupied pocketing the change Jounouchi handed her, but Malik and Atem simply didn't respond, the first remaining slouched in his seat with his arm bent to shield his eyes while the latter just didn't look up, continuing to stare out of the restaurant window to the road beyond.

Yes, he probably should be keener to eat since he - or rather  _Yuugi_  - had not had any food since the night before. Both of them had been too occupied with putting together their final decks to bother with dinner, and Atem knew at least some portion of the nausea plaguing him must be hunger pains. But... He just couldn't find the motivation to eat around the troubles that plagued his  _mind_. 

He would have preferred not to stop there at all, but as they passed through the pylon gates Jounouchi's stomach growled a loud protest, and after laughing Jeu reaffirmed her promise to provide all of them a meal. Sure enough, after a pit stop at a pharmacy to get some painkillers for Malik, she drove them straight to that fast food joint. It was a lot like Burger World, but the sign over the entrance marked it as some other, American-based chain. And yet when he stepped through the glass doors, the resemblance to the more familiar restaurant hit Atem with memories of his partner laughing with his schoolmates, joking around with them over lunch, and now and then sharing quiet thoughts and smiles with the spirit in the Puzzle. Usually Atem tried to keep his distance when Yuugi was with his friends, not wanting to intrude or distract him when the others couldn't hear him, but there were times his happiness slipped through their link, and he couldn't help but join in... At least in spirit.

"Yuugi, are you going to eat or what? Or... you're not sick _too_ , are you?!"

Knocked out of his recollections, Atem finally turned to face Jounouchi and his prodding, staring at him for one blank-faced moment before shaking his head. "I'm fine."

"Well, if you say so..."

His friend's pointed look - and blatant doubt - made him turn away, concerned there was something in his face encouraging the look. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malik unwind himself from his weary hunch, and the movement urged Atem to at least follow suit, and acknowledge the meal before him. But when he looked down at the tray he paused, staring at the round shape covered in thin, papery wrapping.

Atem knew what it was. He had seen Yuugi buy and eat it enough times to recognize it without a doubt, even still covered in the restaurant's unfamiliar wrapping. Pulling back one edge of the crinkling, flimsy paper revealed a simple burger, layered with lettuce, tomato, and an extra layer of bread. And, while it might be hidden from sight, he could smell the ketchup beneath the bun. Yuugi would have been ecstatic with the perfectly cooked and prepared ground beef.

But Yuugi wasn't there. And Atem hated hamburgers.

It had come as a surprise to both of them many months back, when his mother’s complaints over Yuugi’s grades paired with an infamous ladle chased the boy away from his usual games. Coming back from school that night, Yuugi brought home take-out with him, taking a rain check from the usual gathered meal with his friends so he could focus on the homework he'd put off all week. Atem _still_ didn’t know what had put the idea into his head, but his partner had paused right before biting into his burger, looking to the nearby spirit instead.

 _"What is it,_ aibou _?"_

 _"I was just wondering_... _"_

_Yuugi trailed off as his voice softened, hinting his uncertainty. He didn't seem upset per se, but it still alerted his transparent counterpart enough that he rose from his seat on the edge of the bed and approached his partner's desk. "Yes?"_

_Yuugi snapped himself free of whatever thought held him capture and shot him a wide grin for his trouble. The spirit managed a quick tip of his own lips, but before he could question further the puzzle shone brightly and he was thrown into Yuugi's body. After recovering from the usual bombardment of the trivial but so rarely felt sensations the body provided - something he doubted he'd every fully get used to - he turned to the newly appeared 'spirit' beside him._

_"_ Aibou! _"_

_Yuugi took over his spot on the bed, so close to the desk their knees could practically touch. Not that he would feel it as more than a brush of air if they did, seeing as Yuugi had no body to make contact with... But the thought still occurred to him._

_"You should try it! You're always watching me eat, so I thought maybe you might be wondering what it's like?"_

_He wanted to tell him that wasn't necessary, that he knew Yuugi loved his burgers and he wouldn't take his meal from him. But the boy bounced on his feet - despite sitting down - and his excitement was just not something he could dismiss. It was better to just accept the good will. So, the spirit picked up the warm, curious-smelling sandwich and bit into it._

_And promptly choked._

_"_ M-mou hitori no boku! _"_

_He barely heard the fearful cry as he dropped the burger, chewing around the part still in his mouth like it was a pinecone. He felt a feathery whiff of pressure on his back, and realized Yuugi was trying to pat his back. It made little impact, but he winced his way through and focused all of his attention onto not spitting the bite out onto the carpet. Eventually he managed to swallow and gasp on free air, still grimacing at the after taste of bacon and ketchup in his mouth._

_"Uh, here, drink some of this."_

_Looking up, he found his partner hovering close, pointing to a drink on the desk. He wouldn't meet his eye, and the spirit could tell Yuugi felt bad. The soda wasn’t exactly pleasant either, but it was endurable and he gulped it down vigorously in his effort to wash away even the smallest lingering taste of food... Speaking again only when the cup was half empty and he sure of his voice._

_"It, it's alright." He waited for Yuugi to look up, his own eyes softening at the guilt he saw in the purple orbs. "I'm probably just not used to food."_

_"You think so?" The words could have easily been defensive or sarcastic, but from Yuugi they came out only hopeful. The boy leaned thoughtfully from foot to foot, gazing at the food left on the desk. "Or... Maybe you just don't like burgers? I know some people just can’t stand them."_

_"Possibly." He couldn't see how. The body he occupied was Yuugi's, they shared the same taste buds, and he had nothing to work with save the boy’s memories of what tasted like what, so he would have logically preferred to eat what Yuugi did. Where would he have picked up such an difference of opinion?_

_"I know!" Yuugi's face lit up, chasing all Atem's silent protests out of the window with one look. "Maybe you should try and eat other things. We're bound to find something you like eventually."_

_Again, he didn't see the point. He took over their shared body from time to time to support and protect his host,_ not _to enjoy the physical world for himself. But he didn't have it in him to dash the hope on Yuugi's face, not when there was no harm in going along with it._

_"I'm sure we will."_

But it didn't matter in the end if he agreed or not. It wasn't two days later that Yuugi nearly burned to death trying to solve the shattered Puzzle and save _him_. After that he and Atem had found themselves with more serious things to discuss, about what had happened... And his growing personal certainty of he wasn’t just the spirit tied to the Puzzle- The Other Yuugi.

Between that and Battle City the pair forgot about mundane issues like food. He only ate when it was necessary - like during the outing Yuugi sent him on with Anzu, or when he lost his partner _before_ and was alone in occupying the body - and usually someone else chose his meals. But those few times were enough for him to confirm he just _didn't_ share his partner's tastes. But he didn’t want to complain, or draw attention to it, so he always just choked down what he was given.

And if it were any other time, he would do the same. But remembering that first time he tried a burger made Atem freeze with it in his hands, staring at it in a clearly troubled silence.

"Uh, man, is something wrong? I thought you liked lettuce on your burgers. Or do you? I couldn't remember if it was pickles or lettuce."

"It's fine, I am just not hun-" The former pharaoh's hands were suddenly empty, and looking up he found Jeu sitting across from him, his half-unwrapped burger in hand. Scowling at the girl, Atem let his hovering hands drop to the table as he questioned her. "What are you doing? I'll eat it, just-" Atem was interrupted again as he practically crossed his eyes to make out the small hand put under his nose. She was holding up the change Jounouchi had given her, and after a beat he took it from her, perplexed as she set back with a grin, pointing with a thumb at the counter.

"Go on— I can eat this. Just get something else." A, simple enough solution, and yet something about the way she had so confidently, amusedly said it left Atem staring in surprise. But she kept on looking back at him expectantly, ignoring the confused pair beside them.

"Uh, Jeu, Yuugi likes burgers. What makes you think he'd want something..." Jounouchi trailed off when Atem tapped Malik on the shoulder, silently asking to get up... And Malik did, slowly, putting a hand on the booth’s back for support. As Atem rose and crossed the restaurant he could feel their eyes following him, but he didn’t look back, already focused up on the pictures of the menu and wondering what to get.

A few minutes later - and some confusion born from him and the cashier using garbled English to communicate – he returned to the table with a chicken sandwich and fries picked on a wild guess, in time to overhear Jounouchi all but badgering their guide.

"Hey look, I'm not asking anything about what _kind_ of cards they're gonna be, just when they're coming out! You can't even say that?!"

Jeu must have sighed through her straw, given the look on her face and the way her drink bubbled. "I _think_ it'll be in the next month or so, but I don't know. Pegasus isn't announcing the debut because he wants a surprise release."

"And while that's very interesting--" Malik broke in, pushing a empty salad plate aside as he jumped into the middle of the talk and dragged it onto a more practical course. "Could we talk about what... that _spirit_ told us in the cavern?"

"Heh, looks like you're feeling better," Jounouchi teased, ignoring the sour look Malik leveled at him as he finished off his burger. "But, what's there to talk about? Shadi said all we need to do is wait it out, and we'll figure out how to save Yuugi."

"...that's _not_ what he said, exactly," Malik countered slowly after a moment of staring at Jounouchi as if something he’d said had caused him pause, far beyond the simple mistake. But the Ishtar didn’t seem keen to share whatever caused him pause, and when he looked Atem’s way as if checking for input the once king pointedly added nothing, not wanting to distract Malik from whatever main point he was trying to make. Eventually, the teen took the hint and went on. "But even if we don't talk about how there's apparently a demon after the Pharaoh, or how the Gods themselves are involved in this, there's still the issue of 'waiting' as you put it." Malik crossing his arms as the unexplained hard edge to his voice ebbed with his focus sliding to other matters. "He mentioned that this - whatever _this_ is – won’t be over until 'Ma'at's celebration day'. I assume he meant the Goddess's feast day, and that isn't until October."

"Big deal, so it'll take a while. October, that's just a couple months..." Hesitation tainted Jounouchi's voice as he trailed off, glowering as he crossed his arms. "Wait, we have to be back _there_ on that day? That's a month or so into the next term."

Atem froze in the midst of chewing – and assessing his taste for – his sandwich as he realized that, if they all waited in Egypt together, his friends would be kept from their schools... Their own _lives_ for months. Many of them - particularly Jounouchi, Anzu, and Honda - had accompanied him and Yuugi on other challenges they'd faced before this, but even the trip to Pegasus's island had taken only a few days. None of them had ever missed too much school due to the madness constantly popping up since he was first released from the Puzzle.

For himself it wasn't even a question. He hated the idea of Yuugi's life back home being interrupted, and might be capable of filling in for him, but the safety of his partner's soul far outweighed that. He wouldn't risk leaving the country where he had the best chance of finding him again.

But, the rest of them...

"You should go back."

Atem didn't acknowledge the shocked looks thrown his way, or flinch at Jounouchi's indignant screech.

"What?! _Why?!_ "

"You shouldn't put your lives on hold," he said with a soft, but steeled insistence. "The 'starting point' Shadi mentioned might not even appear until the feast day grows closer, and you would be staying here, waiting the first two months for nothing."

"Yeah, but it _could_ start tomorrow for all we know," Jounouchi countered, his frown daring him to come up with some comeback even as he rolled on. "Besides, whether it happens now or two months from now, I don't want to be halfway across the world when it does, unable to help. And neither will anyone else, you'll see. We aren't leaving you to deal with this alone, man, and we aren't going to just forget Yuugi, either!"

"School's not the only issue, though," Jeu slid in beneath Jounouchi’s yell before Atem could recover enough from his gratitude to answer, picking at her drink lid as she spoke instead of looking up at them, tearing the plastic edge. "What about family? The families of Mazaki-san and Honda-san won’t just accept them staying away from home for so long... Bakura-san and Otogi-san’s fathers might not like it, either."

"Er..." Jounouchi scratched the back of his head, suddenly reminded of parental figures that he, frankly, didn't deal usually with. "Well, maybe we sell them some story or something?"

"Maybe... I could try to set up some school exchange program story, and ask the high school to feed it to them. It'd take some work but, maybe they'd buy it."

"Perhaps," Malik echoed. "The fact that we're going to help is not an issue, or up for argument." The look he shot Atem and the tone of his voice didn’t speak of same warm conviction and stubbornness Jounouchi had displayed, but he overrode Atem’s protests with a brief rise in volume, all the same. " _The problem is_ , where are we supposed to stay, assuming everyone stays in the country? Isis, Rishid, and I are in Cairo now, and we have room for a couple people if need be, but it's still pretty far from here."

"Ah, that's not a problem," Jeu piped in. "Do you remember my apartment complex? I have enough room there for everyone, even if your family wanted to stay, too."

"Oh..." Malik sat back out of the lean-forward he had been doing on the counter as he spoke before and just stared back at her, thrown off by her easy solution.

"But, I'm not sure if they will all agree-" Jeu cut herself off this time, frowning, clearly caught in thought. But just as quickly she shook her head, her tone resolute when she jumped back to the present. "You know, it's not right to decide this stuff without the others. They should have a say in it, too." Scrunching her pilfered hamburger's wrapping into a ball in her hand, she dropped it on the tray as she went on. "For now, Shadi has given us some direction, if not answers. We know the world isn't going to implode for at least a couple months, and as long as we keep our hands on the Items there shouldn't be too much trouble... _Hopefully_. Now we just need to-"

"Wait." Atem cut off Jeu before she could continue, his own shock weakening the command. Still the girl stopped, giving him a confused, wide eyed blink. "We don't have the Items."

A couple more blinks.

"What?"

"I said, we don't have them. The tablet crumbled and the Items fell underground when the tomb collapsed. They're buried under-"

Atem had no idea what she yelled. His ‘inherited’ knowledge of English didn’t cover whatever curse she threw out. Jeu moved as if to rise, but of course she couldn't while in the booth, locked between the window and Jounouchi. Going by the panicked expression on her face, Atem half-expected her to climb right over the table, but instead she reached into her pocket and pulled out a violet cellphone, stabbing a couple buttons before ramming it to the side of her face.

"Jeu, what are-"

Jeu went off in a hasty foreign language before he could get a sentence out. He thought it might be Arabic, but when he looked to Malik for guidance, the teen looked just as lost as he was... Though given how fast she was talking, it could have just been too garbled to comprehend.

"I... Gah!" Jeu glared down at her phone, grumbling to herself in Japanese - much to his relief. "Stupid signal!" She spoke into the phone a couple seconds more before closing it, and finally looked up at Atem. Her expression kept morphing between irritated and apologetic and just plain flustered, and would have been comical if not for the sheer confusion it brought on. As it was, he and the other two guys found themselves just staring, expecting some sort of explanation... And all they got for their patience was a quickly grumbled "I'll be right back."

"Uh, what-" Jounouchi tried to protest, but she just kept waving for him to move, and in the end he backed out of the booth so she could scooch by, convinced only by a gesture to listen to a girl half his size. Atem turned around in his own seat to see the short blonde already redialing again as she walked off, out of the glass doors.

The moment the sliding doors closed behind her, Jounouchi exploded. "Okay, what was _that_ about?! Why did she leave like that?"

"Bad reception?"

Jounouchi glowered at Malik, but then just as quickly recovered and let out a dark chuckle as he dropped back into his seat. "Well, looks like Jeu doesn't know about _everything_ after all, huh Yuugi?"

"Apparently not," Atem agreed, ignoring a ping of annoyance at the name. There was no point in bringing it up with Jounouchi - 'Yuugi' was what he always called him. The only reason it bothered him _then_ was the painful reminder that came with it. He focused instead on Jeu's back, distorted by the glass. He couldn't hear what she was saying, or see her face, but her jerky movements were telling enough. While a part of him - the part still bitter about this stranger knowing more about him than anyone else, without explanation, and controlling so much of his predicament - agreed with Jounouchi, he couldn't find any humor in her anxiety. It just could not bode well.

Eventually it became clear she wasn't going to come back immediately, and after a few uncertain seconds Malik broke the silence. "So, what do you make of her?" he asked, glancing from Atem to Jounouchi, receiving a snort from the latter.

"Apart from she's crazy?"

"Oh, I don't know." Malik glanced over his shoulder, as if afraid Jeu might hear him, a wry note in his voice that Atem would almost swear echoed with a touch of resentment. "I would say she's handling everything very well."

" _That's_ why she's crazy. Who in their right mind could deal with all of this?!" Jounouchi glowered, before backtracking into a sudden calm as he looked up, staring blankly at the ceiling with his arms crossed. "But, she _does_ act like she wants to help us, I guess. And I don't peg her as tricking us, even if she's so irritating with her 'I can't say' crap. She just..."

"Has her hands tied?" Atem finished quietly, his question hanging in the air. His friend craned his neck around to meet his maroon gaze and slowly he nodded, the gesture awkward thanks to his posture.

"Yeah, that sounds about right, but-"

Atem never found out what 'but' Jounouchi was going for, as he snapped his mouth shut when his attention slid to something over his shoulder. The cause was pretty easy to guess, and he valiantly fought the urge to look back himself, busying himself with eating his fries. ...they actually weren’t half bad.

"Well, that's all I can do for now." Jeu stopped in front of the table and stared at the ground, not meeting anyone's eye. Jounouchi scooted quietly over so that she could sit straight down, and the girl slouched into the seat, setting her phone on the table where it slid across the surface. Malik caught it before it fell on the floor, and pushed it back to its owner. But Jeu just let it fall straight into her lap, too busy looking down to catch it.

"So... Who were you on the phone with?"

"The Council."

Atem frowned at the term, trying to remember where he knew it from, but Malik apparently understood, given his lilac eyes twitched wide in surprise. Jeu didn't notice, going on in that same distracted manner. "I needed to speak to a friend on the board about getting an excavation done, fast."

“...you what?” Atem managed to ask, the conflict of confusion and piqued slowing his reaction.

When Jeu turned to him, noticed, she quickly jumped to attention and shook her head, talking twice as fast as before. "No no no, I mean, they're not the ceremonial chamber— That is if it hasn't collapsed into where the Items are. But even if they do, the people who'll do it know what they're doing and to not disturb it as much as possible. Of course, it's already collapsed in, but you know-"

The girl looked down at the fingers suddenly around her wrist, her mouth shutting like a vice as Atem settled his touch there— A move he had impulsively made when his would-be anger dissolved in the face of her panic. Doubt and surprise at himself crept in quickly in the wake of her silence, but something about seeing the girl herself freeze up at the contact, go still as a statue, calmed his own uncertainty.

"Jeu?" Atem waited until she tugged her attention from their joined hands, then quickly let go when he saw the dazed confusion on her face. "Breathe."

"Right..." She mumbled so softly he barely heard her.

"Uh, _right,_ " Atem blinked as he suddenly clicked back into awareness of the other two, hard-pressed not to turn and glower at Jounouchi's sarcastic echo.

"But, _why are_ you digging up the Items?” Malik asked, looking at them with none of Jounouchi’s baffled interest, but still drawing attention back to the phone call. “No one outside our group, and you, should know where they are now. Is it likely the Puzzle even remained intact from the fall? It's probably broken apart again, and it would be near impossible to find all the pieces."

While Malik was probably right, and it meant no one would be able to misuse the collective seven, at least, the idea weighed heavy as lead in Atem's mind. That the Puzzle that connected him to this world for so long... To his _partner_... That Yuugi had worked so hard to solve _twice_ was broken apart again...

"...Malik, the Puzzle might be broken, but the others are all a threat individually," Jeu replied after a moment’s pause, the odd stupor she had been in moments before wiped away in the face of her sober argument. "And don't let the idea that they're buried fool you. If _He_ wants to get a hold of them, and is powerful enough to set this whole mess up, then something like their burial isn't likely to stop him."

Her clear reference to the 'The Devourer' Shadi mentioned was so full of contempt it nearly distracted Atem from what she actually said. Nearly. "The people that this council might send to find them. Are they trustworthy? It isn't worth the risk if someone on the team takes them."

"If it comes to that, I'd rather see one of them trying to use it over _Him_... If it came to that."

Atem nodded in answer, but didn't say anything further. Honestly, he still didn't like the idea of _anyone_ excavating that place. Between the fact that a door to the afterlife was, or had been there, and how the Items could easily fall into the wrong hands, the situation was dangerous at best. But, if Jeu was right and they wouldn't be safe buried underground, he had to agree. He wouldn't feel secure until he had the Millennium Items back, where he could keep them under his watch, safe and unused.

"What do we do now?"

Jounouchi's question drew everyone's eyes to Atem, clearly looking for guidance. But he had no better idea than them. Latching onto the one point that occurred to him, he looked to Jeu. "Like you said, the others need to know what's going on. Can we reach them?"

"Yup." She opened her phone and dialed, though she didn't put it to her ear and no ringing could be heard over the speaker. "And the boat's going to be leaving soon. The question is, should I drive you back to it, or should we have them come to us?"

"Malik." Atem asked, after only a cursory moment to make a decision - at least for himself. "Do you think Isis could have everyone brought to Luxor?"

"Probably." He frowned, hesitance clear on his face. "I would just have to call her, and-" He paused when Jeu held her phone out to him, prompting him to take it. For a couple seconds he stared at whatever was displayed on the phone screen, and then looked up at Jeu with a flat sort of look that could have been exasperation _or_ amusement 'Send'. "Should I even bother asking why you have my sister's number? Or is that another of those deep unanswerable questions of yours?"

"No, I just have contact information for most people on the Council, including her."

With a start, Atem realized the 'Council' must be the Supreme Council of Antiquities, the government branch in charge of all archaeology in the country. Isis was Secretary General for them, or at least she _had_ been when he saw her for the first time in that newspaper Yuugi spotted while in the hospital after that fire... And going by the two’s conversation, she was still in the position. Shocked at how he hadn't figured it out sooner, Atem heard near nothing of Malik's conversation with his sister, only blinking back into focus when he spoke up to Jeu with his hand over the speaker.

"She says that is fine, and they should make it here in a few hours. But where should they go?"

"The Acacia Apartments." Jeu started giving an address, but she paused as she realized all three were looking at her in confusion. "I, assumed we'd go to my place? They'll probably kick us out if we keep this booth much longer."

"Right... What was that address again?"

* * *

" _Woah!_ Is this really an apartment building?! It looks like some snazzy hotel!"

Atem didn't comment, but he silently echoed Jounouchi’s impression as he took in the luxurious lobby, blessedly air conditioned and protected against the blazing heat outside, with its large, richly decorated lounge, spread out beyond the front desk.

Unfortunately, the man behind that desk didn't take well to Jounouchi's yelling. He scowled and straightened the tie of his suit as he walked toward them, speaking in heavily accented English. "Excuse me, but this is a private-" He paused and quickly dropped into a shallow bow as Jeu, trailing behind the rest of them, came through the door and into view. "Miss Ravin, good afternoon."

"Afternoon, Sofiad," Jeu replied politely, even as she passed the desk without a pause in her step, throwing no more than that greeting and a smile as focused on shuffling around in her pockets. Taking their cue from the girl, the rest trailed behind her towards a pair of elevator doors and watched as she hit the button and pulled out a set of keys at the same time— The standstill eventually prompting Jounouchi to speak up with a clear effort at a joke.

"So, what, this place have its own pool and restaurant?"

"Oh... No, there's no restaurant. There is a pool on the roof though. I could show you around later, if you want." The melodic 'ding!' of the opening doors synchronized with the silent stares they gave the girl perfectly. But Jeu noticed nothing as she boarded the elevator, turning her key in a slot in the control panel as the rest of them filed into the small, brightly lit space.

As one they watched the numbers displayed over the door ascend upwards Jeu started talking again, overshadowing the soft classical music playing from speakers overhead. "There are a couple of free bedrooms in my apartment, so if any of you want to take a nap instead, until the others get here, you can. If we have a few hours, there’s no-"

"Jeu, is that you?!"

Jeu choked on her tongue at the sudden yell that had followed the elevator stalling and opening, the loud, excited call coming from somewhere down the hall that appeared before them. It was another girl’s voice, yelling in English, and the sound of it had made Jeu’s eyes bug out so wide Atem was afraid they might fall out. None of them could investigate the cause, though, because the girl was blocking their way out of the elevator... And after a second she had to reach forward and put her arm against the opening to stop the doors when they started to close again. Immediately, jolted into action by her own move, she turned around and looked to Atem, speaking in a frantic tone that left him striving to keep up.

"Okay, I thought she wasn't home yet, and I would have time to explain this to you. But the point is, yes it's _her_ , but she doesn't remember that— Just like Kaiba-kun, you know? And I've worked hard to keep her out of all of this, so just try not to-"

Jeu's rushed speech broke off as pounding footsteps rushed down the hall, a form barreling into Jeu's back just as the elevator doors were about to slide shut again. Jeu let out a yelp and nearly toppled, urging Atem to reach out and catch her. But he was quickly squashed between the wall and Jeu, the unexpected impact and contact making his mind go fuzzily blank a second before flustered anger set in. "W-what are you-"

"Jeu, you're home! I can't believe it! I was...happened to you! I get home... nowhere... I had no idea what to-"

"Woah, hold it!" Jounouchi cut off the foreign cries flying from the new arrival faster than any of them could translate, and Atem silently praised his friend as the blonde pulled on the other end of the human sandwich, allowing him and Jeu a chance to slump against the wall together and _breathe_. "Look lady, I don't know who you..."

Jounouchi's sudden silence caught Atem's attention, and he pulled himself away from focusing on filling his lungs with air and how Jeu was still there beside him against the wall. And the moment he managed to open his eyes he froze, physically and mentally. The sight of the smiling teen girl with a mane of golden hair and big green eyes was like a punch to the gut.

And she was staring back at him with a similar shocked look of recognition. ...or at least he thought so until she broke out in a huge grin. "Oh my god, it's Mutou Yuugi!"

"Yes, yes..." Jeu gave Atem's arm a light pat – a touch he barely felt through the shock – before pushing herself away from the wall, and him. She set a hand on the girl's shoulder, likely to keep her from jumping _him_ if her behavior was anything to go by, while gesturing to the remaining, baffled company. "And these two are Jounouchi Katsuya, and Malik Ishtar. Guys, this is my cousin, Amanda Mitchell."

"Pah! What do you mean by calling me that?! Do I go around referring to you as Lucia, Jeu?" The new arrival punched her shorter cousin on the arm, earning a flinch from the older girl that she paid no mind to as she continued to grin at the rest of them, completely ignorant of the rough déjà vu staining Atem and Jounouchi’s faces.

"You guys can call me Mana!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Please, make yourselves at home."

Jeu's welcome was absentminded at best as she led the way into the apartment, the front door left half-open from Mana's rush out to greet her cousin. Atem watched, still numb, as the carbon copy of his old friend pushed passed Jeu, twirling on her heel to beam back at the group gathered in the doorway. "Come on in, already!"

"Ah, right," Jounouchi mumbled, sharing a glance with Atem before leading the stragglers in. Mana was already around the corner, so he turned to their other hostess as he held one foot awkwardly up. "Should we leave our shoes here or what?”

"You don't have to," she answered, not pausing in her effort to take off her plum jacket and open a nearby door that proved to be a coat closet.

As Jounouchi handed his own coat over to her and followed Mana, Malik took advantage of their distraction to catch Atem’s attention with a soft whisper. "Pharaoh... What is it about the Mana girl that shocked you?" Understandable as his confusion might be, given he would see nothing but an American teen who happened to resemble a Duel Monsters card and have nothing to go off but Jeu’s ramblings in the elevator, Atem could bring himself to do nothing more than look pointedly towards the nearby Jeu and back to Malik with a slow headshake. ‘Not now.’ Apparently the Ishtar read his meaning, given he followed Atem’s gaze to Jeu and gave his own silent nod after a considering beat, then moved passed the once-nameless king to trail after Mana and Jounouchi without further word.

Atem, left alone with the girl who had brought them there, finally spoke up just as she got Jounouchi’s coat on a hanger. "Jeu?" She turned questioningly his way, and Atem let the silence drag, hoping his question would simply show on his face. She obviously recognized it, but ducked her head back around to focus on finishing her task. The disregard shot irritation through him, and he stepped closer, covering his alarm as much as possible, lest they be overheard. "How can she be here? Why would she be reborn as  _your cousin_?"

"I don't know." Jeu closed the closet door and leaned her back against it, meeting his question with one of her own. "Why was Kaiba-kun reborn as your rival, or your former advisor as Yuugi's grandfather?"

The counter left Atem coming up short, unsure what to say. She had a point, after all. Old, familiar faces had crossed his path more than once, even before his awakening, beginning the moment Sugoroku found the broken Puzzle. Atem had never thought to question it too deeply, beyond the natural order of fate. Even before he knew to recognize him, it felt natural that he'd be led to fight Kaiba. Face the spirit of the Ring, worn by a boy who shared an old thief’s name. As natural as Yuugi being the one to solve the Puzzle and free him.

Was Mana simply another instance of the same aligning of destiny?

After giving him a moment to counter, or consider as he saw fit, Jeu’s glance, steady with a refusal to be intimidated, softened. "I am sorry for surprising you, though. I thought there would be time to prepare you for her showing up. She was supposed to be in the States with her dad a few more days... Guess she caught an early flight."

Atem’s attention perked up at the unexpected information folded in the apology, eying the girl with wary interest. But before he could inquire further, Jounouchi’s shocked, excited voice rose up and echoed down to them from another room, prompting them to both turn and curiously trail down the hall to catch the conversation.

"Damn, how many games do you guys have?!"

"I don't know—These are just the ones we've played recently or Jeu's brought down for later. Most of them are stored up in her game room!"

"Wait, there's  _more_?!"

Coming into a large room that must have been the main living space, Atem threw a cursory glance to the dining area to his left before focusing in the direction of the loud voices, finding Jounouchi and Mana in a sitting area made up of a pair of couches facing a large entertainment center and a bookcase. The two blonds were crouched over there, chatting about the different things they were pulling off of the case. Atem's eyes ran curiously over the expansive selection of video games on the top shelves and the board games stacked below, speaking to them even as he wondered what the games labeled in Arabic were.

"Where did Malik go?"

"Checking out the view."

Jounouchi's flippant response spurred him around, looking for Malik near one of the large windows, dining table, or in the nearby attached kitchen. But it wasn't until he glanced towards the other side of the room that he noticed a pair of glass doors leading to a terrace. Jeu was walking through those doors, and over her shoulder Atem spotted the pale-haired Ishtar as she made it to his side. At first Malik started, but then relaxed back into his previous lean against the stone railing, listening to whatever the girl was saying to them. Atem stared, eyes narrowing in on their back forms as a vague, heavy uncertainty weighed in his mind.

What could they be talking about?

"No  _way_!!"

Atem turned about at the ecstatic cry, only to find Jounouchi right there, grinning back at him and waving a game with a colorful cover. "Look, Yuugi!"

That was all the warning Atem got before that slim box was tossed at him, and he had to drop Yuugi’s duffel to catch it before it could hit him in the face. Shuffling the slippery thing in his grip, the former pharaoh meant to ask Jounouchi, quite calmly, what the hell he thought he was doing... But he was distracted when he actually looked down at the box in his hands and read the title. His breath caught. "Duel Monsters?"

"Yup!" Mana chirped, skidding over and plucking the box out of his hands before he could finish reading the back. "Pegasus sent it last month! It's the prototype for some game he wants to release soon!"

"And it works?" Jounouchi asked, glancing between the girl and the room's gigantic television like he saw the solution to all of life's problems there in its black screen. "You can duel on it? No problems?"

"Nope, it works great! You can play against the game, or another player! Here, let me-"

Atem looked on as the pair started setting up the game like a couple of excited kids, pulling out controllers, Mana plopping down on one couch as Jounouchi squatted right on the floor. Looking on as if from outside, he was thrown by how easily Jounouchi adjusted to Mana's presence, not questioning it at all and diving into having fun in a matter of minutes... Where he couldn’t stop taking side glances at the oblivious girl. But, with nothing to actually _ask_ her, since she wouldn’t understand their questions, and Jeu had made it clear she wanted Mana unaware, perhaps Jounouchi had the right idea... Even if Atem doubted his ability to follow suit.

He stepped back to sit on the farther back couch, attention already caught on the flashing television. But he bounced right back to his feet when his rear met a small pillow that screeched and pricked him with sharp with needles. Trying hard not to look like a fool by rubbing his stinging behind, Atem turned to look for the cause, but whatever it was raced off of the couch, and he could make out nothing more than a blur of black before it disappeared.

"...did you just sit on my cat?"

Jeu appeared as if on cue, and he met her glance baffled stare for baffled stare. "Your cat?"

"...yes?" Jeu looked between him and the hall a couple times before trailing after the apparent feline. Silence fell, until Mana rose to face him, the same baffled tone in her own voice.

"You sat on Smokey?"

That prompted Jounouchi to – blessedly – stop staring at  _him_  to target  _her_ instead. "You guys named your cat  _Smokey_?"

"Is that weird?"

" _Ow!_ "

Jeu's cry pulled his attention back to the hall, and he was ready to follow himself when she appeared again, shaking one hand as the other held a struggling black kitten. 

"Not nice, Smokey!" Jeu said to the small animal, holding him up at eye level a second before setting him on the floor. The cat immediately zipped off again, leaving Atem staring after it. He didn't have a particular love for cats, but if he'd harmed Jeu's pet...

"Is he all right?"

"Yup. I’d say he did more damage to us." Jeu shot him a wan smile before plopping down on the couch. Seeing as the girl had taken the spot he’d claimed moments before, Atem hesitated a few beats before eventually sitting down on the other end, in time to hear as Jounouchi move the moment passed the awkwardness.

"Woah, look at all of these cards! How do you scroll through them of all without taking an hour?"

"There's a search option! But it didn't come with all these, I got them through game play! Do you want me to help you make a deck with the system- Wait, then I'll see your deck."

"Why don't you go get a snack or something while he makes it, Mana?" Jeu cut in, pulling her feet up to hug her legs. "I can walk him through it while you're gone."

"Sounds good!" Mana beamed back – sending a curious, if vaguely shy glance Atem’s way – before rolling up and hurrying off to the kitchen, leaving Jeu to talk the girl’s future opponent through replicating his favorite deck via the game. Atem tried to focus on what she said, but his mind just wasn't alert enough to stay tuned in. His mind wandered, caught on memories of duels prompted by the appearance of familiar cards on the screen. Of Jinzo, and when Jounouchi won it in Battle City, and the wonder of how long ago that felt even though it had only been a few months. Of Duelist Kingdom, and the events that had solidified the start of his own, active rapport with his partner. Of Jounouchi and Yuugi dueling, just for fun, both recently and years before in their class room during lunches and after school... Would Yuugi ever get the chance to enjoy something like that again? Atem had accept _he_ would never see it, but...

"Pharaoh... Pharaoh?"

Atem opened his eyes, surprised they had been closed in the first place. Malik was hovering over him, two glasses of something transparent in hand, and a confused look on his face. "You were sleeping?"

"Ah..." Atem replied eloquently, sitting up straight out of the slouch he'd fallen into, rubbing his face. "Seems so."

Glancing around Malik, he saw that Jeu and Jounouchi were where he had left them, but Mana was nowhere in sight. The game was still on the deck arranging screen.  _I couldn't have been out for long..._

"When was the last time you slept?"

Atem peeked up between pale fingers and gold bangs to see Jeu looking back at him. A dismissal was on the tip of his tongue, but the unwavering, concerned stare stilled the words and forced him to consider.Sleep... He had never naturally  _slept_ before, not in this lifetime. The only recollection he had was from memories. Save for after his duel with Haga, but that was falling unconscious, nightmares. Not sleep.

"...Atem?"

Focusing his gaze, he found Jeu's gaze still set on him, the question she  _really_  meant there... When had that  _body_  last had any sleep? Considering that meant Yuugi, but he held the stirring of that from his face. Not here, not in front of them. "A little on the plane, but... back in Domino?"

"Huh?" Jounouchi twisted around down on the carpet, leaning back on his arm to gawk at him. "You mean you didn't go to sleep after I talked to yo- Yuugi on the boat deck last night?"

"No...”  _Aibou talked to Jounouchi last night?_  But, of course Atem wouldn't remember. He blocked himself from Yuugi's mind that night, so he that wouldn't witness his partner forming his deck.

"Hmm..." The noncommittal noise drew the former spirit’s eyes back to Jeu. She showed none of Jounouchi's shock, but all of the concern. "You should rest, Atem, at least until the others arrive." His protests must have shown on his face before they could leave his mouth, because hers twitched, a good-natured grin as she added on "You don't want to nod off in the middle of dinner, or talking to them, do you?"

Reluctant though he was, Atem saw her point. Jeu looked like she was moving to stand, but at that moment Mana came back into the room, a big bowl of popcorn in hand, asking what was going on. A quick explanation - and Jounouchi proclaiming he wasn't ready for Mana to see his deck yet – and Atem found himself in the hands of a Mana, beaming down at him as she enthusiastically ushered him up. "Come on, I'll show you your room!"

"..." Atem couldn’t help it, he froze to find the girl in his face, old, stale, never-quite-personally-realized fondness for an old friend impossible not to associate with the near complete stranger, and really only making it more difficult to relax when he looked at her. But he forced it, nodding and giving a short acceptance as he rose, trailed after her out of the room with a backwards glance to the three already focused on the television.

"The bedrooms upstairs are taken by me and Jeu, but there are a couple empty ones down here!"

Atem nodded along, glancing curiously at a staircase they passed that he'd missed on the way in. The two came to a pair of doors, side by side, down the opposite end of the hall, and Mana looked undecided from one to the other before giving a noise of dismissal and opening the one on the right, waving Atem inside as she hit the light.

“That's the bathroom there, and there's a door to the closet over there- I'd give you a better tour, but since you're tired and all." He glanced about as Mana spoke, taking in the rather bare if well-stocked bedroom. He couldn’t help but doubt there was enough to warrant a ‘tour’ in any case. "Just come look for me if you need anything, 'kay?"

Turning around, Atem hovered just inside the room, offering a nod. A part of him hurt to see the amazement, but complete lack of familiarity in Mana’s face. She didn't remember anything... Of course, his own memory of that friendship was hazy, but he was certainly  _aware_ of it enough to feel the loss... And feel beholden enough to push himself to speak. "Thank you."

Mana beamed in answer. "You’re welcome! I mean, it’s not like I did anything... Man, it’s just crazy to think _you_ are here!" She shook her head in a dazed sort of wonder before giving an embarrassed laugh and waving off her own comment. "Sorry— Just, get some rest! We can talk later."

"Yes." And with that she closed the door, leaving him in the room to silently stare about in his own wonder...

He couldn’t quite believe he was there, either.

* * *

A clock was flashing '6:47' in red numbers.

That was the first thing Atem noticed when he opened his eyes, blinking to focus and make out the time. Hours had passed... He should get up. Return to the others.

Instead he turned over and curled back into the covers... And jerked upwhen something cold and wet nudged his eye, hitting his head on the headboard in the process. Grappling in the dark for a lamp, it took him a few seconds to fill the room with light, but once he did his heart slid quickly back to a normal speed. It was just that cat, propped on the pillow he hadn’t been using. He shot a displeased frown at the feline, getting only the blink of big green eyes of his trouble. "How did you get in here?" ...that purring was downright amused, he'd swear it.

A couple swatting waves and a reclaiming of his bed later, Atem took another look around his new quarters, examining the large space. It was more like a hotel suite than an apartment, luxurious in quality... But again, bare. Unlived in. But the sight of it helped override the images in his mind, already slipping into memory. He hadn’t slept well, lying still but too tense, his mind a loud buzz of intentional white noise... And when he had managed to nod off, he had been plagued by an odd dream, about a small white bird perched in a tree, saying something to him. Something important, something he needed to remember....

But it was gone.

Sighing in defeat, Atem moved to the bed's edge and pulled his boots on, listening. Awake and alert, he realized what woke him in the first place. Voices were echoing through the house... Loud once. And one of them sounded a lot like Honda. Leaving the rest of his things behind, he walked out of the room as soon as he was ready, ignoring the tiny patter of the kitten following him.

"Wait, I don't get it! So we have to wait  _months_  before we even get a  _chance_ to find-"

"Honda-san, she said we have three months  _to_ find him."

"That's even worse! What if we don't make it in time?! What happens to-"

"Yuugi!"

Atem stalled mid-step in the doorway as all eyes turned on him. Everyone he had left behind in the valley was there, save for the Kaiba brothers, sitting at or standing around the dining table. Before he could even blink half of them were rising or moving, and Anzu and Honda at his side, the man frowning down at him. "Are you okay?"

"Ah.." he managed with a nod, glancing to his side when Anzu heaved a sigh.

"When we heard what happened, and that you were sleeping, we were worried you had fallen ill, like Malik-kun did."

"I told you," The Egyptian spoke up, glowering from his chair, still seated between his siblings. "I am not sick. And neither is the Pharaoh."

"Still, can you blame us for our concern?" Isis gently protested to her brother, folding her hands together on the tabletop. "I have never known you to faint, Malik, and the timing is dubious enough... You said yourself that the atmosphere in that chamber felt strange. Did you notice the same, Pharaoh?"

"Yes, something was off. But," Atem frowned as he glanced around the room, realizing what had seemed off to him in the here and now. "Where is Jounouchi?"

"I sent him out with Mana," Jeu answered, and following the sound of her voice Atem found her at the kitchen bar, separate from the others. The table was crowded enough, but still the fact caught his notice around her words. "Like I told you, I want to keep her out of this, so I sent them for dinner and asked Jounouchi to stall her so we could talk. Of course-" Jeu pouted as she glanced at Honda, getting nothing but an answering glower for her trouble. "You yelling 'Mana, what are you doing here?' when you came in didn't help."

"Hey, I didn't know to expect her here-"

“None of us did,” Isis cut-in.

Silence fell. An echo of the stifling, shocked tension that had struck everyone earlier that day fell over all of them. It was too thick, and Atem walked further into the room to break through it. It broke the stillness, and gave Isis back her voice.

"Malik and Ravin-san explained what happened in the underground chamber, and how Shadi spoke to you."

"Do you know anything of what he said? Of The Devourer?" Atem rushed out. He might have believed Shadi's words, heard that he should wait for the next step to become clear, but that didn't mean the idea of answers, of finding out what he was dealing with didn't pull him across the room to the table's edge, to the Ishtar's guidance.

"I am sorry, I do not have anything to add to what Malik told you, at least for now. "Isis apologized, calm eyes focused down on folded hands. But she quickly looked up again, pressing on just as Atem was swallowing back his disappointment. "But I think I know where I can start looking - The same place Malik read of this being."

Atem forgot to breath, sitting down across from her, barely noticing Otogi had risen to clear the seat for him seconds before. "You remembered where he learned of him?"

"Yes, I remember seeing the term used on an inscription before, although I didn't study it very closely" Isis frowned as she focused on the wall behind him, as if trying to reread what she was missing in the paint. "I do not remember what the being is, but the text referred to him as 'the enemy of Ra' throughout most of it... A common enough term for enemies of the Pharaoh. It isn’t very telling, and if there was an actual name given, I am afraid I don't remember it. It might well be that it was purposely omitted."

"But, whatever he was called, he is the same being that you heard about today" Rishid filled in where Isis ebbed off. "Since both texts say you defeated him on the night of the last Pharaoh died, and you became king."

"Wait a minute," Honda jumped in, plopping down in the chair beside Atem. "Didn't we fall in Bakura's game world just after the last pharaoh died? So, what, he beat some demon right before when that happened?"

That could not be true.

Atem couldn't place the why, but this shadowed fight did not occur so soon before the one chapter of his life he had relived through the Puzzle and Zorc’s intervention... The last days of his life. There was some gulf between the events. He just knew it, without any active recollection to back it up.

"No, the former pharaoh wouldn't have died that recently," Rishid answered, echoing his thoughts. "A seventy-two day mourning period is observed for royals, so if the last pharaoh was already buried when Zorc struck, then this would have occurred at least two months prior."

"But, whenever it occurred," Isis jumped back in, turning her focus on Atem. "The story of 'the enemy of Ra's' defeat was engraved into the sides of a chest left in your tomb."

Atem's hands curled into the table top until the finger joints were as stiff as his back. Anzu cut through the silence he let hang, the same dismay coursing in her own voice as he felt. "But, but the tomb collapsed! That means that the-"

"Don't worry, Anzu," Malik cut in, throwing an easy smile before glancing at Atem, rolling flippantly through the ‘reassurance’ he offered. "Your tomb was emptied when it was first uncovered. What was taken from there was sent to the museum in Cairo."

A stab of anger shot through Atem at the idea that his resting place - whether he actually  _rested_  there or not - had been emptied out, the remains of his life displayed to the world. But just as quickly a memory resurfaced from the deep waters of his mind, prompting him to slowly catch his breath around two words. "The exhibit..." He murmured, drawing confused glances from everyone. But a moment later Honda and Anzu both gasped, realizing what he referred to.

"That's right! The stuff from the pharaoh’s tomb was shown back in Domino eons ago! We saw it!"

Atem nodded numbly along with Honda, whispering to himself. "Where I first met Shadi..." He could kick himself for not realizing it sooner! Now that he thought back, he realized those were  _his_ remains displayed in the Domino Museum that time, but he'd never thought back and made the connection!

"I did not know it had circulated through Domino before," Isis said, pulling Atem from his thoughts. "But in any case, while the tomb has collapsed, what was found inside is still intact. And the chest should be with everything else from the exhibit."

"And where is the exhibit now?" Atem asked, working to keep the bite from his voice at referring to his remains as such. Finding that chest was more important than feelings of outrage he couldn’t even fully understand or express.

"It is in Paris at the moment, until..." Isis trailed off, but shook her head as she dismissed her struggle to recall a date. "I could find out exactly when, but it does not matter. I know it will return in Cairo by the end of the week. I have been working with the curator for some time, so there shouldn't be any trouble gaining access. And it may very well prove worth the effort. The first time I was examining the chest, all of the artifacts, I was looking for mentions of the God Cards or the prophecy. I could have easily missed something crucial... And in the meantime, I can go back to the museum and pave our way to accessing it, and search or records for any other references to this being."

"So, you'll be going back to Cairo?"

The question drew everyone's eyes to the girl at the kitchen bar, making Jeu fidget uncomfortably at the sudden attention, much of it still highly suspicious of her. But she kept her eyes fixed on Isis, who hesitantly answered. "Yes... I'll need to go as soon as possible. I think, if your offer for a room tonight still stands, I could stay until morning, but I think I will be of more help if I can search for answers in the museum."

Jeu nodded in answer, glancing towards Atem, and confusing him with the reluctance he spotted in her gaze before she looked down at her hands. "And everyone else?" Silence filled the room a few moments before she added on, pushing for an answer looking up with a braved smile. "Who would like to stay with here until this is over?"

"What, you have to ask?" Honda gave a snort before he turned and grinned at Atem, confidence and a 'no arguments' edge painting his voice. "I'm with Jou. I'm staying until we've got Yuugi back."

"Yes," Anzu added in, leaning down at his other side and gripping his shoulder, drawing his eyes to her own determined ones. "We aren't going to turn our backs and leave you to deal with this without us. No way."

"I, I'd like to stay, too." Everyone turned their eyes to Bakura at the quiet admission, the white-haired boy grinning wanly as he put up a hand. "I know I wasn't able to be much help until now, but, since there’s no reason for me to stay away anymore, I'd like to try and do so now."

Before Atem could protest to Bakura's statement, to say that he had absolutely been of help, Malik was cutting in, crossing his arms as he met his eye with an easy, direct if not particularly warm air. "Me too, Isis and Rishid can handle the things back at the museum. I would rather stay here and keep an eye on things from this end."

Atem looked slowly between the four, a slow, wondering smile growing on his face. But a soft sigh turned his attention to behind him, making him turn to see Otogi hovering there. The dice player's expression was regretful when he spoke. "I wish I could stay and offer you the same backing as everyone else. But, I don't have anyone to handle my company in my stead. That, sounds like a stupid reason, with Yuugi still out there... I  _might_  be able to walk my father through it from here, but-"

"No, Otogi." Atem cut in, making Otogi draw his gaze up from the ground. "I don't want you to abandon your company for my sake-" The words 'and  _aibou_  wouldn't either' came to mind, but stuck in his throat as the idea that he was thinking of Yuugi like that hit him square in the gut.  _He was not gone_ , and he shouldn't even be  _thinking_  of him in such terms.

"You can always visit, Otogi-san." Jeu assured the green-eyed teen, smiling even as her gaze drifting questioning to Atem. He could manage nothing but numb return. "I'll make sure we have room whenever you can come."

"Wow, uh, thanks..." Otogi stared in surprise, until concern slipped across his face as his focus slid elsewhere.

Atem followed the look behind him, and found himself looking straight at Sugoroku, sitting nearly hidden in Rishid’s shadow. The small man looked just as tired as he had when Atem last saw him at the tomb... Prompted by the sight, he slowly rose from his seat, walking away of Anzu’s uncertain touch as he went to stand by Sugoroku, speaking gently to him even as he couldn’t quite focus his gaze on his. "You should return to Domino, as well. You cannot allow the game shop to stay closed." The point that Yuugi needed a working home to return to came to mind, but he dared not voice it. He knew no one there would dare protest and think of mentioning that he might _not_  return, but Atem still feared the possibility. He didn't want to the idea voiced at all, if he could help it.

"I know you are right..." Sugoroku trailed off, his mouth forming a name before he stopped himself, instead looking away, towards a large window that reflected everyone in the room. "But the idea of being across the world when something could happen to any of you..."

"We do have a date for when all of this should be over with," Jeu quietly pointed out, drawing the orchid eyes of the elder Mutou to her. "So, even if you return to Domino for now, you can always come back and be here then. But, until then, I think you should listen to Atem..."

The once king of Egypt slide his gaze between the girl and Sugoroku and back, shocked at the quiet affection he saw on Jeu's face. Yuugi's grandfather looked struck by it himself... But neither he nor Atem had time to question it or even linger on the fact, because everyone was quickly distracted by the loud  _bang_  of a door slamming and a loud pair of voices booming through the apartment.

"We're back!!!" Mana grinned over the top of numerous pizza boxes as she came around the corner, but froze as she saw everyone at the table, making Jounouchi almost run into her as she loudly announced herself. "Hey, what's with the serious faces, you guys? You look like you're at a funeral or something!"

Atem’s stomach rolled sharply, and the atmosphere grew pointedly uncomfortable until Jeu broke it with a laugh, walking over to take some of the boxes off of Mana’s hands. "We're just catching up on news, Mana! So, did you guys get everything?"

"I think so! Although it wouldn't have taken so long if  _you_ , who can actually  _drive_ , went out and got them yourself."

"I told you, I couldn't leave my guests. Now, who wanted pepperoni?"

"Oh, me, Jeu! Just, let me put down these boxes! I'm starv-"

"Yuugi?" Anzu's quiet voice distracted Atem from Jounouchi's answer, drawing his attention to her alone as everyone else congregated towards the kitchen. As soon as he looked at her questioningly. She gave him as small, encouraging smile, relief painting her voice. "I'm glad you're... Okay."

Atem didn't answer beyond a quick quirk of his lips to reassure her, simply following her lead in sitting down at the kitchen bar to wait for his dinner. He could sense that wasn’t what she was originally going to say... And whatever it might have been, he wasn't okay, and he would never truly feel at ease until the warm soul of his partner was back with him, where it belonged. But he didn't feel like saying so to Anzu, particularly right then. For the moment, his thoughts were filled with gratitude, instead of his loss.

Yuugi had always impressed upon him how thankful he felt to have met the spirit, because it was thanks to him that he had found the friends that he cherished so. But sitting there at the kitchen bar between Anzu and Jounouchi, Jeu handing out pizza in front of him with the laughing Mana, surrounded by all of those people willing to stall and risk their lives yet again for his sake, Atem realized he had been granted the same gift his partner claimed  _he_ had given _him_. Through Yuugi, he had gained the friendship _he_ shared with everyone there, and seeing them smiling and talking around him? They cared about him, and he could trust each of them to stand by him. He wasn't alone.

Getting an elbow in the side, Jounouchi smirked at Atem when he jerked his head up, pointing across the counter. Following the finger, he found himself at the receiving end of a smile as Jeu questioned him.

"What kind of pizza would you like, Atem?"


	8. Chapter 8

Atem angled the card. It caught the light of a nearby torch, and he scanned it before adding it to his hand. It served no purpose as of yet, but he kept the slight disappointment from showing on his face, hoping his opponent would not see passed his poker face. But when he turned his gaze on the boy sitting across from him, the playful gleam in those eyes told him he had been easily read, all the same.

"Not the one you were looking for?"

"Aa," Atem breathed, holding his composure for all of three seconds, but eventually his own lips quirked in a grin under his rival's smile. He broke the silence. "Is it not your turn?"

"Yup!" The other ducked his head and scanned his own cards, moving them around in his hand as Atem waited. He would not rush him, perfectly happy to simply enjoy the opportunity to watch his opponent... The way those eyes narrowed, the way he went so still when he was concentrating, considering. Even if Atem leaned an elbow onto his knee and put on a pose of impatience, thoughtlessly tapping his cards against his chin, he could have stayed like that for far, far longer, and found pleasure in the silence.

But finally the moment of truth came, and the boy looked up, met his gaze, and announced his move.

"Got any eights?"

"Go fish, _aibou_."

Yuugi gave an exaggerated pout at the dissent, but that just caused Atem's lips to twitch upwards again, safely hidden behind his cards. His partner smoothly picked up the top card of the pile and gave him a _look_ , though how he knew Atem was grinning he couldn't guess. It really didn’t matter, though... For all of the annoyance he put on, Atem saw and recognized the glint of enjoyment in Yuugi’s eye.

The stack of cards they pulled from was perched on the seat of the throne, where both could reach it, as the pair sat the on the floor in front of the golden seat, facing one another. Yuugi was even leaning on one of the carved arms as he played... That is, until he jumped up straight with a grin, flipping the card in his hand over to show him.

"Eight of Spades!"

"So I see..." Atem skimmed the numbered square held in his face with its eight black symbols before looking beyond it to the triumphant boy, quirking a brow in question. "Is there a reason you're showing me your card?"

A few blinks were shared.

"Because it gives me another turn if I get the card I asked for?"

"Ah, but that's an optional rule for the game."

"What? It's a pretty standard variation!" The boy crossed his arms - covered in the same blue material of the same jacket _he_ wore - and raised his chin. With such a clear schism of opinion with potential arguments on both sides, and no referee on hand to decide, the decision for such a thing would have to come down to one player capitulating to the other’s claim... And Yuugi was clearly not going down without a fight.

But the pharaoh certainly felt the same, and he settled an equally stubborn stare on Yuugi as he gave his languid reply. "Yes, and we didn't agree to play with any variations at all."

"But..." Yuugi paused, trying to come up with a good counter, but after a few beats of searching silence he eventually slouched and nodded, composing his face. "You're right, we didn't agree to that."

The admission caught Atem off guard, for even if it were true, if _he_ drew an eight on his next draw, he could claim all of them. It put Yuugi at quite the risk. But the reason he caved so easily became clear when his partner pulled three other cards from his hand, setting all four eights down on the ground, right by his book of jacks, and facing Atem’s own books of kings and sevens.

The fact Yuugi had had all four of the eights all along made the spirit shake his head with a smile, even as he looked over his own hand for the next possible number to ask for. He had an ace, a six, a queen, and-

"Do you have any twos?"

"Go fish!"

Atem felt a flutter of amusement at the cheer in Yuugi's voice, sharing a grin with him before pulling his eyes away to draw from the share pile himself. He thoughtlessly flipped the card up and glanced at what he had drawn... His rare smile twisting and falling as he stared at the front. The vertical word on the edge read JOKER, but the image imprinted was of a curled black snake, its icy slit eyes watching him, always watching. A chime was ringing somewhere, and echoing all around him from nowhere.

"Something wrong, _mou hitori no boku_?"

Slowly Atem looked up, meeting the concerned plum orbs set on him. He wanted to yell _yes_ something was wrong, or at the very least say a Joker had slipped into their deck, but the flat words that left his mouth were not what he thought to say.

"I am fine. What card do you want?"

His diminutive other furrowed his brow in thought, concern clear as he closely inspected his friend. But he nodded all the same, giving a quick glance to his cards.

"Uh, well then... Do you have any queens?"

Atem yielded the Queen of Hearts without even looking at it, but it did not go alone. He had slipped the Joker beneath it and handed both cards to his partner as one. A part of him wailed at the involuntary action, but the alarm felt distant, muted... And he knew he had to pair the Snake with the Queen.

**_The Jack is the Queen! The Joker has the Queen!_ **

**_THE JOKER HAS POISONED THE QUEEN!_ **

The soundless, senseless scream had no source, and Yuugi didn't notice it at all. Atem would have asked about it, but he couldn't move his mouth. He didn't feel properly connected to his body anymore, and as Yuugi took the Joker from him, Atem’s hands wouldn't listen to his brain and _grab it_ _back_!

As he looked at what he was handed, Yuugi's expression fogged with confusion, and for one, blessed moment it seemed nothing had happened, and the beat would pass, and his partner would give his next guess, or complain that he had been given an extra card. The wrong card.

But when Yuugi raised his head gradually, as if it were too heavy for him to lift, his gaze focused on a point over Atem's shoulder. Even as his partner spoke, he wouldn't look at him, his words slow… Hazy with the distance of a mind somewhere else. Far away.

So far away... And yet right there in front of him.

"I forfeit... I have to go back, Atem. The ceremony… It won’t wait. It’s time... I need to go pray."

Atem nodded in understanding, though not a word of it made sense. But he was too distracted by the sound of that dear voice saying his true name to question him, to mind his own actions. Yuugi set down his book of Queens - the Snake peeking out from behind - and let his other cards fall from his hands as he stood, scatter into shadow and air. Atem didn’t see them disappear, his head turning mechanically to follow his partner’s departure. Every move was stilted, slightly off, and when Yuugi paused at the bottom of the throne steps and glanced back at him, Atem could only blink numbly back, frozen at the sight of Yuugi’s precious eyes gazing at him with a look that set off every nerve inside him screaming. A look he could do nothing about.

_Have his eyes always been so dark?_

For a breath the pair shared a pained, helpless look, then Yuugi turned his back and kept walking, heading for the entrance of the throne room at a snail's pace, his slowness all the more torturous as despite it, Atem could do nothing but watch, held still as surely as if he were chained. But the further his partner went, the less he worried, the spirit's heart becoming a numbed fog, his panic slipping away.

He was left staring through the dark archway, listening to the fading footsteps with deaf ears. Every thought he managed to form was taken before he could think it, every feeling muted and doused before it was felt. The effect left Atem listless, unsure why he should fight to think, feel, or worry. But throughout the moments, years that passed, his heart kept beating too fast, refusing to calm. An eternity later he managed to open his mouth and the one thing he could not forget, even in this empty state, slipped out on a whisper.

"... _aibou_..."

As though triggered by his own, another voice spoke up, quietly at first so that it only tickled his senses, but growing in volume until it was ringing all around him, reverberating through the floor, the walls, his bones. The sound of it shot through Atem, the recognition instantaneous and sharp as a knife.

That _voice_!

Unlike the first time he heard it, the gossamer song _released_ him from his frozen state, the veil around his heart and mind collapsing like sand and leaving him shaking in horror as he stared into the darkness Yuugi had just disappeared into, his quiet footsteps even then echoing back to him. But they were muted, slipping away even as Atem sprang up, dropping his cards and smashing others under his feet as he sprinted down the steps, nearly tripped in his haste to clear the distance between them.

" _Aibou_!" Atem called after, hoping to stall Yuugi's retreat before he left, disappeared beyond his reach. But the soft echoes ahead continued without pause, pushing him on and distracting him so much that he didn't notice that he had not come out on the expected landing of his palace, but was running through corridor after corridor. The walls and floor spanned out before him endlessly, morphing with twists and turns, steel doors and stone stairways taking place of warm stone and painted walls, spreading out around him at impossible angles.

It was only when the light of the torches gave way to shadowed halls that were lit only by an eerie, dim glow that Atem recognized where he was. But he did not stop to dwell on it or question the bizarre transition, the slight rise of footsteps ahead urging him to hurry, to ignore the burn of his petrified heart as he ran. But the organ that should not have been able to beat at all stilled when the footsteps he followed suddenly stopped, a resounding _bang_ echoing all around him.

He froze for only a moment, praying for some sign that he had _not_ just lost him, before jerking forward and sprinting on blindly. He shouldn't have been able to find it so easily, but just one flight of stairs later Atem was staring at the closed door of his soul room... The door he knew, without question, was the one that had just slammed shut. Biting back the fear that threatened to swallow him whole, the former monarch rushed forward and wrenched the door open with all of his strength.

"Wait-" His cry died before it left his tongue, caught in his throat as Atem stared into the darkness beyond.

There was nothing there. The opposite wall, the side of the hall representing his other half's mind, was gone. His open door faced nothing but a gray blanket of mist... A mist that swallowed any hint of light or darkness around it. Just staring into it filled Atem with the same numbness that hit him before, and his instincts told him to close the door, turn around, and get as far away as possible. But he couldn't, not with Yuugi somewhere out there.

He stepped out.

–and instantly slid to the ground, slipping on something beneath his feet. He caught himself on his hands, but they landed in something warm. Warm liquid. Cold, icy alarm sliced through him, but he ignored the warning in his head to _not look_.

When he pulled his hand up out of the sticky warmth and looked at it, the blood layering it dripped down his wrist, staining his coat cuff red.

Atem let out an agonized scream as his mind blacked out.


	9. Chapter 9

Atem shot up, trying to scream. But he choked on the sound and fell backwards, what air remained in his lungs knocked out of him by the impact, and he was left staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. He was shivering, sticking to the sheets with cold sweat. His eyes were dry, but as soon as he found the breath to he let out a strangled, agonized sob.

Eventually his mind registered the reality around him... He was in his guest room in Ravin's apartment, on a bed, in a dark, but safe room. Not in the dark corridors of his soul... Not running through a freezing labyrinth.  _Not_ covered in the blood of his partner.

But he was alone... And he could still feel liquid pulsing hot on his hands.

The sensation shot through Atem and he rolled off the bed and sprinted for the bathroom before he'd even caught his feet, slipping on the carpet as he went. Panic surged through him as he stumbled through the doorway, his insides twisting at the feeling of blood smearing from his hands to the wall as he groped for support. The space of seconds it took to find the switch felt like years, but finally he flicked it on and instantly held his hands up to look at them in the light, blinking the spots out of his eyes so he could see.

There was nothing there… No blood. Nothing covered his fingers or palms but a light sheen of sweat.

It should have been a relief, but the contradiction to what he had just seen,  _felt_  only disturbed he further. He slowly flexed the fingers, curled them into fists, and unfolded them again, testing the reality of what he saw. Standing beneath the florescent lights of the restroom, Atem finally allowed the truth to seep into his mind and calm his heart... The cruel vision he had seen had been a dream.

It hadn't been real, none of it had been, even if he could still feel the blood dripping down his fingers, even if he could still hear the echo of footsteps somewhere just out of sight, even if the image of Yuugi with that sad, haunted smile was burnt into his mind, and stayed there no matter how hard he pressed his unstained fingers against his eyes. He just... He couldn't shake the conviction that, if he could actually reach it without the power of the Puzzle? He would walk out of the labyrinth into that corridor, seek the door of his partner’s soul... And find nothing but gray mist and a sea of blood.

The very idea made him clench a hand again and smash it into the counter top, the impact shooting pain through his knuckles and up his wrist. But the outburst offered no solace, and the rush of frustrated anger left as quickly as it came. Atem could only clasp the edge of the counter as he slid wearily down to his knees. His arm pulsed with a resulting ache, but he barely noticed, his attention too wrapped up in the 'memories' that haunted his mind. He was awake, but he might as well still be asleep. He just couldn't let it go - the sting of Yuugi being  _right there,_  and watching him walk away, seeing that pain on his face, being unable to do  _anything_!

The rage and grief and everything in between crashed and splintered, leaving Atem feeling physically sick from the overload. And the longer he knelt there the worse it got, the tight space of the bathroom closing in around him.

He needed air.  _Now_.

Hauling himself up, he wandered out into the hall on shaky feet, still clad in Yuugi's blue pajamas, his fingers absently sliding over the buckle on the collar he still wore, couldn’t bring himself to take off. Passing down the dark hall passed Jounouchi’s bedroom door, back passed the front entrance he had come through half a day ago, Atem made his way to the glass door of the living room terrace without a single pause. The noise of the traffic and smell of the city came in on a warm breeze when he slid back the glass, grounding him in a way nothing else could have. For a few seconds he simply stood in the doorway, letting the welcome attack on his senses exorcise his nightmare’s hold, before the ease gave way to a want to step out further.

Making a straight line for the balcony’s edge with its stone railing, Atem rested a hand there and took in the sights below, the buildings fanning out in all directions, the river so close he could see the outline of boats floating on the waters, even in the dark. If he turned his head in another direction his palace would be in perfect view. But he didn't look. He didn't want to face the setting of his dreams – or at least where the dream had started. He wanted to dismiss what he saw as simple illusions born of paranoia and grief. But... The warning, the bitter truth of what he saw behind that door felt so real, undeniable. Frustrated at the thoughts threatening to swallow him again, he murmured a silent curse under his breath, curling his fingers into the stone so roughly it scratched the tips of his fingers.

"What's wrong?"

Atem jumped and spun around at the soft question, only to find himself face to face with Jeu Ravin. The girl, still dressed as he had last seen her at dinner, was curled up on one of the wicker chairs scattered across the terrace, holding vigil over a low table. _Has she been sitting there this whole time?_ Thrown off by her presence and how he had been so distracted he had walked right passed her, Atem simply stared, his hands clenched at his sides. His silence and whatever she must have read on his face made Jeu’s frown deepen, and she tried again. "Did something happen?"

"No, nothing." Atem automatically replied, managing to smooth out his expression as he said the lie. Jeu obviously didn't buy it, her gaze steady on his with a clear want to press further. She didn't say anything, though, and he could have easily moved on without telling her anything. But… That searching gaze she set on him, the way she curled her legs to her chest, the little frown that hung on the edges of her mouth and between her brows with concentrated question...  _Something_  about her made him drop his guard and speak without thinking. "It was just a nightmare."

She didn’t say anything. Didn’t even move, yet the instant clearing of confusion in her gaze left… Something, more concerned than baffled in its wake. But he didn't want to acknowledge it, think about it, or talk about his dream, so he turned away and let his eyes wander over the shadowed site of the nearby ruins, searching for some topic to distract her with. His own thoughts threatened to derail when he spotted his palace, but he managed to swerve his gaze towards the nearby field of rubble and excavation pits, reminding him of something that had bothered him earlier in the day. "Is it safe for them to be digging there?" Turning sideways towards the visibly confused girl, he jerked his chin towards the pits in indication. "If someone stumbles over a remaining tablet of a strong monster, it might unleash itself."

"I highly doubt it," Jeu said as she stood and walked over to join him at the terrace edge. "Even if they stumble onto something, nothing’s ever happened before… Pegasus saw countless ones, years ago, after all. They seem to be- dead.”

"What?"

Shocked his distraction had received an answer like  _that_ , Atem frowned at the shorter girl, but she didn't meet his gaze, giving a nod and a quiet “Yup” to his reaction before pausing… A frown forming between her brows again as she mused quietly, as if to herself. "Okay, not  _dead_  exactly… Dormant, maybe? At least, they aren’t bound to just the tablets anyways, right? The true spirits can be summoned through the cards?"

She turned to look to him as if for confirmation, and after a moment’s hesitation and repeated wonder at the girl’s still unexplained insight, Atem had to nod, mind sliding quietly back to the first time he had ever dueled Kaiba. The monsters he had called from the cards had truly been the real spirits, even as he hadn’t yet understood the significance behind his own efforts to evoke them… How the heart within the Blue-Eyes White Dragon went back much farther than Sugoroku’s attachment to the card. Or what it meant when he had attacked  _Kaiba_  with that particular card, Sugoroku’s or not… Sliding back to the present, though, he could only shake off the recollections and look out towards the dig site again – currently dark and silent – with a new significance. "Yes, you are right… Still, the tablets themselves are no less dangerous on their own for that. What are the chances they might find more intact?"

"No telling," she answered with a shrug. "There could be hundreds of them in the ground." An answer that didn’t sit well with Atem. Jeu and Pegasus, it would seem, were focused more on the images of the monsters on the tablets, rather than the powers that were sealed along with them. That is, if Jeu’s claims of new cards were true, and they were being made for no other purpose than an expansion of the game for its own sake. "And anyway, the summoning tablets aren't the only things that show the spirits. Like the tablets found and exhibited in Domino?” Turning away from the view, Jeu walked back towards the seat she had just abandoned, and Atem followed suit, sitting across the table from her in his effort to keep listening. "They show the three gods, the Blue-Eyes, and the Dark Magician, right? And there are many other depictions of spirits on the walls and monuments of buildings from your era… Just last weekend a temple was uncovered out in the desert with images of monsters that look a lot like the three gods."

"But... They aren’t the gods?"

"Nope. For one thing, all three have wings."

"All three of them?" Atem echoed, frowning over the strange riddle before offering the most likely solution that occurred to him. "If they aren’t true tablet images, they must have been painted. The artist could have made a mistake, or-"

He never finished his sentence. He had ended up distracted by the conversation himself, but a single thoughtless move of Jeu’s hand drew his glance thoughtlessly down and… He finally realized what she had been doing out on the balcony. Playing cards were spread out over the wicker table, set out in a clear pattern of a game of spider solitaire in progress. The unexpected sight hit the pharaoh like a cold splash to the face, and his words died on his tongue.

Something of his thoughts must have shown through, for the girl stilled her mindless straightening, her fingers freezing amid an expectant beat of silence... Breached only belatedly by a hesitant call.

"Atem?"

He didn't answer, the concern in Jeu’s voice warning him what he would see if he dared look up. And he didn’t want to see... To have the discordant, agonizing memory of his nightmare mirrored back at him by the girl’s confused worry. No… Without any thought beyond a strange, abstract want to dash his terror away and somehow prove to himself that he was  _not_  prey to his fears… He moved. His assessment of the game’s current state had been passing and shallow at best, but even with a quick eying he spotted a potential move. And so he reached out, slid the Queen of Hearts over top the King of Spades, connecting no suit but leaving Jeu access to the Ace of Diamonds, and the line of cards beneath it.

The girl said nothing, though he could feel her attention still burning a hole into the top of his downturned head… Nothing about his invasion of the game, or the obscurity of the move, or whatever he was obviously avoiding. When he finally dared to glance up she skirted her own gaze down, dodging the direct contact that might have formed to instead stare at the cards. A conflict shone in her downcast eyes that he knew, even without asking, had nothing to do with the game or his intervention. After a few silent beats, she reached out and moved that ace to a matching two, mutely accepting his help in the game.

As she moved a few more cards in slow succession, words fell from her lips with quiet, stumbling care. "You know…. It’s no shock there’s a lot on your mind." A sour bitterness rose up sharply in Atem’s throat at the shallow understatement, the flimsiness of the words only underlining that Jeu knew well enough how that sounded. It was all he could do to keep from snapping out a reply, but he managed to bite his tongue, and the urge to cut in completely slid away as she went on. "But… You don’t have to carry it all on your own, if you don’t want to." Apparently running out of possible moves to excuse looking down, Jeu stopped avoiding his gaze so suddenly, with such unexpected insistence that his gloomy doubts were scattered to the winds, Atem left tense yet avid and blinking in the face of her attention. "Jounouchi-kun and- and Mazaki-san... And all of the rest? They’re staying to help you face what’s coming. And that doesn’t mean just fighting any enemies that pop up, or waiting around until this is over— We are all here to help you, and listen… If you like." Jeu’s voice trailed away into nothing but a dead whisper by the end, the confidence she started with apparently paralyzed by the obvious problem with her suggestion. She had clearly meant to say that  _she_  was willing to listen to him, too, but… He still had a lot of good reasons to doubt her, didn’t he?

And yet… Even if Shadi had not all but put those suspicions to rest, down in that black chamber, Atem knew, looking at her, listening to her, he somehow  _knew_  in his bones that she truly meant what she said, and that she said it for his own sake. However much he had come to question his every move forward, the once king had learned long ago to trust his intuition. It was the only thing he had had to guide him forward for years with no identity or memories of his own… Only what his partner had graciously shared with him. And it had rarely led him astray before... Why should he question himself then, when his calmed mind registered nothing but sincerity from the girl? Felt nothing in response save a strange, warm release of near-constant tension? Should he rebuff her, just because he didn’t understand the 'why's of his confidence just yet?

"I know that. And it does help, knowing everyone is here with me to face whatever is ahead." And it did, a point easier to appreciate when he actually had some company, and Atem acknowledged it in his effort to clear the concern from the girl’s face. And yet… Even after Jeu visibly eased at his words, relief lighting her features briefly, Atem didn’t,  _couldn’t_ just let the issue die away. He didn’t know what was coming over him, but the natural reserve that had led him to keep his fears to himself for most of the day? It fell away in the wake of his nightmares, the grief that had already struck him in front of everyone, the day’s exhaustion... He couldn’t find the energy to stifle it anymore.

He had to say something, even if he could only manage it by aiming his confession to the table. "But... I keep wondering what has  _already_  happened... Shadi said this was about solving a puzzle, nothing else. I might stop this ‘devourer’ and find out what happened to  _aibou_  and… It will have all been for nothing." It could still be that Yuugi was truly, utterly gone, and all of his efforts to find him too late from the beginning. He couldn’t bring himself to quite say it, or voice how that possibility literally haunted his dreams, but as the unsaid terror threatened to drag his mood back down into blackness, Atem shut his eyes against the resurfacing images of his nightmares, clenching his fist into his pants' leg, mumbling more to himself than to Jeu, or anyone else. "It’s pointless— I am only putting him and all of us more at risk by dwelling on it." He should be striving to figure out ways to find this enemy, to prepare for an attack however he could, to figure out what actually happened to Yuugi, not–

"It’s not–" He froze at the strangled protest, those bare words jarring and clearing his mind of all but a need to warily open his eyes again. There was nothing to be found to dread, yet the disquiet that silently drifted across Jeu's shadowed face did nothing to quell his own troubles, only solidified them with a sudden, unexpected swiftness. Nothing really said, no real reason for it even  _he_  could name, but one look at the distress on the girl’s face and it felt like his nerves were ready to fry.

He wasn't certain how it would have manifested, or if he would have done anything at all beyond sitting there, tense as a rock. There was no real time to find out, for even with a stifling delay of silence, the girl still found her voice again with fair speed, and stumbled forward with it in a clear, determined struggle. "Atem, we just have to trust that you will find… That this is worth it." He could only frown, twisting the fabric within his fist in restless doubt for her stumbling efforts, but Jeu had clearly found _something_ of strength in her own words, the lost distress that had been in her eyes clearing enough for her to pin him with a steady, dauntless gaze he couldn't bring himself to look away from. "Shadi also said that whoever did this could do a lot of damage if you don’t figure out what’s going on. That he would take your soul, or life, or something... But the point is, yours  _and_ Yuugi’s," she emphasized slowly, searching his eyes all the while for understanding of her point. And oh, he caught it, and it struck him not as a sudden shock, but with the soft wonder of asking himself why he had not considered something so obvious in the first place.

But his silence must not have satisfied Jeu that he definitely, for certain understood, prompting her to voice the suggestion that had already made Atem's heart skip a beat, even yet unsaid. "That means, he has to still be out there somewhere, right? For The Devourer to still take? That there has to be a chance… Something to win. Or it wouldn’t be a ‘game’ at all." There was something there in her voice, in the tremulous taint of her smile... Something he couldn't quite place, that put everything she said on shaky foundations... Or rather, cast a shadow over it. Even that impression, though, couldn't stifle the way her claim flowed through his clouded mind like a flood of light, banishing the shadows feeding in the dark. "If there are stakes and risks for you, then there’s hope, too... We just have to hold onto that."

"…yes," he managed to get out, stunned wonder strangling it down to a whisper. But even that much drew a stilted breath from Jeu, her eyes wide and hopeful and catching a bare speck of color reflected by the city lights behind him and making Atem blink back the silent chaos in his mind, rub a palm into one of his own eyes. "Yes, I know that." And he needed to  _remember_  that, that even with his hands tied in restless waiting there weren't just threats ahead, but potential deliverance. He could still get Yuugi back... He  _would_  get Yuugi back! It was a question of how, but never  _if_! "And I  _will_  make it happen," he said, without truly explaining his words. But it seemed explanation wasn't necessary, because Jeu showed no confusion. Simply smiled in a slow, heavy, but still approving way that spoke volumes on its own, and it felt only natural to mirror it, his lips curling with an unforced ease he hadn't felt all day. 

Had he truly smiled since his partner called that last attack in their duel, when Atem had taken the loss with as much pride as resignation?

Silence fell, but there was no tension spoiling it, the two of them just staring long enough to realize both had nothing else to add, mutually satisfied. No, Jeu only nodded shortly, signing her faith in his claim, and the next thing Atem knew he was back to helping her with the should-have-been-solo card game, falling into taking up her dropped game without a thought. Catching and solving the block she had run into when she'd last stopped to speak to him, Atem made no more moves than was necessary before giving way again, freeing her to finish the game on her own in one smooth go that couldn’t have lasted more than a minute. Even primarily watching, the game play was a soothing sight for his cleared mind, allowing his frayed nerves to settle into an easy calm by the time she stacked the last cards together, and looked curiously up at him. "-you didn't want to play yourself, did you?"

"No, not with those.” Even after quelling some of his fears, he was wary to repeat the events of his nightmare so closely. But, watching the girl win the intricate solitaire game with little help and relative ease, he  _was_  intrigued enough that he thought to tack on a simple "A duel would be interesting though, if you're willing."

"...you want to duel me?" Jeu echoed after a breath, looking up at him with a strange, frozen, wide-eyed look... Something sparking in her face that she tried to rein back in, but the sight was still enough to mar Atem's own ease with confusion. Was it so strange an idea? He had assumed she must play herself, given her role in helping Pegasus with the game, her comments on the cards, and that video game she had, clearly not just for Mana's benefit. But just as he began to question that assumption, the girl's expression teetered towards the soundly thrilled, a tight-lipped smile spreading over her face before she shrugged and looked out over the cityscape. "Why not? I can't tonight-- I was rearranging my deck after dinner, and I need to put it back together before I can play again, but... Why not..."

Yet even with that accepting rain check, there was no denying the off-kilter air that had taken over. It truly felt like there was something she was holding back, and, without any idea why, Atem was left questioning his own offer. Not only was the girl confusing him, but he had just realized that he would have to replace some of his cards, too. He had lost some out in the desert, after all... Tossed them out of the window in reckless anger for his recent loss-- Convinced in that moment that Yuugi would still be there if he had won. He knew it was wrong, looking back, and even if it was bittersweet to duel again after that botched ceremony, he couldn't let that stop him. Yuugi could,  _would_  be back soon, and Atem would not let himself turn away from something they both loved, what reminded him of the boy, for something so foolish as evading pained recollections that would haunt him, game or no game.

Either way, Jeu broke the silence with no comment or nod to her odd reaction, gathering the playing cards into a box with an air of finality. "For now, Mutou-san and the rest will be leaving pretty early in the morning. We should get some sleep."

A fact Atem couldn't deny, certainly, nodding mutely as he slowly stood. His mind catching up with events, he could only marvel at how he had felt ready to collapse in anguish no more than a few minutes ago...  He  _knew_  why that was no longer so, and once he gathered himself to do it properly he called after the girl, catching her just as she was about to disappear into the apartment. Looking back at him with a tilt of her head, Jeu's confusion didn't clear until he finally managed to get the words out evenly, with the sincerity they deserved. "...thank you."

A smile crinkled at the edge of her eyes, easy and happy and not weighed down, like so many others he'd seen her wear. All she actually offered him was that glance, a shrug, and a "It’s what I’m here for" before slipping through the balcony door, but it was enough.

Atem found it only too easy to follow her... To go back to bed feeling lighter, and far less lonely, than he ever could have expected.


	10. Chapter 10

“ _Whaaaaat?!_  How did it manage to pull off that combo?!”

“The deck likely has three copies of all the cards it needs- And it must be set to try for that strategy. That would explain the double ‘Pot of Greed’ plays on its last turn, when it could have attacked you directly and won on the spot.”

“Still! I thought it couldn’t get worse than during its actual  _turn_ , destroying my dragon like that and leaving me wide open...” Jounouchi wilted down, slumping over almost flat against the carpet with a long-suffering sigh. It was hard to hear anything he said when he was burying his face in the fibers, but it sounded like he was grumbling about how frustration it was to duel an opponent with no face, beyond the painted image of a Time Wizard. There was no one to glare at or yell at with any chance of getting a response. Jounouchi had chosen the said Time Wizard (all of the video game’s opponents apparently being Duel Monsters) out of an old fondness for the card... But that sentiment quickly turned to ire when its trademark effects and style were thrown back at  _him_.

Atem largely left him to his struggles, responding to Jounouchi’s outbursts and questions only sparingly as he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and lounged on the sofa, Jeu’s little cat trying to climb up his pant leg to catch the fingers he aimlessly waved at him. He and Jounouchi had claimed the two extra bedrooms in Jeu and Mana's place the night before, their friends boarding up in other surrounding apartments on the same floor for the foreseeable future... At least in the case of those not going back to Japan or Cairo that morning. But it was still rather early, and Atem had only just come out of his room a few minutes ago. But Jounouchi was already up, dressed, and playing the video game-- And since he was watching with no idea what Jounouchi had put into his virtual deck, the only thing the duel king could soundly do was share his assessments on how the A.I. operated... And muse over how, even if he was still curious enough to try out the game for himself at some point, it didn’t look like it could be near as fun as dueling against a real player. He preferred having someone to speak to, whose moves would go beyond some set algorithm, and might learn  _his_  methods in turn, each player evolving and responding to the other’s dueling style.

He would have to ask Mana how to access that player versus player mode she had mentioned before...

A phone rang out in the hallway, prompting both to look up uncertainly until the thought-of girl came stumbling out of the nearby kitchen and raced through the opposite door with a loud “I’ll get it!” that allowed them to relax and focus back on the television. But, just as Atem was wiping any interest in the call from his mind, the background sounds of Mana picking up and giving an upbeat greeting cut off into a prolonged silence, followed by a quiet, “Oh, hi Mom...” Atem instantly glanced back up and narrowed his eyes on the slither of the girl visible through the doorway. Something was clearly off in Mana’s voice, as though she was disappointed or even saddened to discover the caller’s identity, and a glance at Jounouchi reassured him that it wasn’t just him hearing it. His friend was frowning Mana’s way, too, and they shared a silent, questioning stare when he turned and they locked gazes.

Before they could decide if they should do anything, though, Jeu came trailing out of the kitchen herself, a bowl of cereal in hand as she sleepily smiled their way. “Morning, Atem... Did you decide what you want for breakfast, Jounouchi-kun?” The easy airs quickly died away, though, as she took in their silent, serious expressions, and finally noted the voice of her cousin in the hall. Mana’s quiet English was too difficult for Atem to keep up with, but Jeu must have understood the words, or simply the context, as her expression darkened and softened in the same beat. She herself listened for only a moment before she mutely moved to shut the hall door. Only when it was closed, the other girl out of likely earshot, did Jeu look back at them again, a weak grin playing and dying on her lips at their clear confusion. “Sorry... We should give her some space.”

“What’s going on? Is something wrong with her mom?” As obvious as the question was, and rude, Atem could only back Jounouchi's prying, though he added nothing to it save an attentive stare.

Jeu shook her head at them, moving farther into the living room before speaking. “No, she’s fine. Mana just doesn't see her a lot.” And at first it seemed that would be all they would get, but where frustration marked Jounouchi's face, Atem kept his gaze trained on the girl even as she stalled silent near the television, her hands poised to spoon up another helping of her fruity cereal, but never actually moving to eat. He couldn't say what it was... There was nothing about her still demeanor that kept Jounouchi's attention, but Atem found himself staring expectantly at her, and not batting an eye when she spoke up again without preamble. “Mana has been staying here with me since her mom remarried last year.” The tidbit prompted Jounouchi to pause his game again and blink up at her in shock where Atem did little more than scoop the cat off of his leg and lift it up onto the back of the sofa without looking away, waiting for anything else she might say. But apparently letting them know even that much troubled Jeu, and her gaze when she looked up from the bowl was a pointed, imploring one. “I wouldn't bring it up. It upsets her.”

“We won't,” Atem assured, and while he earned no smile for his trouble, Jeu must have found something of value in his sober assurance, given the tension eased from her features as she nodded back in mute answer.

Jounouchi, though, either didn’t catch the silent memo, or simply couldn't wipe away his own concern enough to stifle his doubts. “Still, the two of you have been living out here on your own, in another country for that long? Shocked you could get away with that.”

Jeu leveled a considering look on Jounouchi, but apparently found the point off-topic enough to discuss and answer with no reservation... At least at first. “Pegasus bought the apartments up years ago, when he came through Egypt the first time. And he’s trusted me on my own for years... And, we grew, distant, after he got the Millennium Eye.” However calm her expression remained, or steady her tone, Atem couldn’t help but notice how Jeu subtly tensed up, as though to stop anything from leaking out from beneath her quiet front. “We haven't seen each other since Duelist Kingdom, or spoken or written to each other about much beyond card business. ...I just keep my head down most of the time, and he leaves us be.”

“That must be hard on you” slid off his tongue as naturally as his next breath. Jeu blinked her gaze off of Jounouchi and back to him and lingered, any weak hint of confusion in her eyes ebbing away as they looked at one another, untroubled, their stare not so much a mute confirmation or thanks as a simple, mutual recognition, and an accompanying thoughtless ease.

“ _Right_...” The disturbed edge in his voice prompted Atem to break the glance and look Jounouchi’s way, only to give his friend a cock of an eyebrow when he found Jounouchi eyeing him in a suspecting manner. Surely it couldn’t be that strange to note the girl’s need for sympathy and voice it. But, whatever he was thinking, Jounouchi gave no more hint than a snort before focusing back on Jeu. “Right... How long do you think you can keep that up for, though? What if he pops up while we're here? What will he think when he sees us?”

“...I don't think he'd even care,” she answered, sounding shocked that Jounouchi would even worry about it. And while a part of him understood Jounouchi’s suspicions, the memory of everything Pegasus had done to them before still fresh in his mind, Atem had to concede that Pegasus had attempted nothing heinous since Duelist Kingdom. And he was quickly distracted by Jeu's additional reassurance of “And, if he does, a couple of months from now it won’t matter if I can stay here anymore” given with a wave of her spoon. Even if it was a light comment, the girl focusing on eating her breakfast the moment after she said it, Atem couldn’t help but stare. For... Had Jeu truly been living there in Luxor,  _solely_  to wait for him? For all of them? For _this_? For, all of that time? And... She had said  _Mana_ had been staying there for the last year. Just how long had  _Jeu_  been in the city, standing vigil over the ruins of his home, waiting for events to unfold before her she apparently knew would happen long before they came to pass?  
  
Before he could think of some casual, or at least effective way to ask her, Mana came back through the door Jeu had closed. To their collective relief a light smile was back on her face, her voice bright as she indicated the small crowd that filed in behind her. “Look who I found coming in as I got off the phone!” 

“I hope we are not intruding, Ravin-san,” Isis said in greeting as she entered the room on the teen’s quick heel, trailed in her own turn by Anzu, Otogi, and Sugoroku, the sight of them prompting Jounouchi to properly put down his controller, Jeu to set aside her bowl, and Atem himself to rise from the couch— Prompting the cat to claim the spot he vacated.

“Not at all, I invited you,” Jeu answered amid a chorus of greetings and hellos before turning to Atem and Jounouchi. “I told them to come over here before going down to the car. We won’t be rushed to say goodbye here in the apartment.”

“-if that’s the case then where’s Rishid?” Jounouchi asked, frowning at the sizable but still incomplete crowd before skirting his gaze behind them to the doorway that offered no further arrivals. “And Honda and Malik, for that matter?”

“Honda-kun is having trouble with his stomach,” Anzu supplied, giving an impatient if still concerned look with the explanation. “He’s saying the water is just giving him the runs again, but if this keeps up I think he should see a doctor.”

“Malik is not feeling well, himself. When he woke this morning he said his head was bothering him,” Isis supplied, and where the news of Honda’s ailment had earned a passing worry from Atem, Malik’s struggle prompted something far closer to alarm. Yet, where he might have thought to ask what was wrong with him, Isis gave an expression not dissimilar to Anzu’s own, when she had spoken of Honda. “But, he refused my advice to stay in bed... He went out to take a walk. To get some fresh air, apparently. Rishid is with him, although he and Malik should be back in a few minutes, in time for the ride to the airport. Rishid asked me to pass along his good wishes to all of you.”

That practical admission could have easily knocked the whole room into a heavy silence, the cloud passing over all of the faces around him mirroring Atem’s own mute recognition that this was it, this was the group that had come together two days ago for his final departure, splitting apart. It was strange... Yesterday, he expected to say farewell to all of them, for what was meant to be forever. And yet the idea of a mundane, partial farewell felt somehow, harsher... Perhaps it was only that he had been expecting that last goodbye, had time to prepare himself for it. This— This was unexpected, and uncertain. He didn't know if he would see some of them the next week, in a few months... Or ever again. How did one give a _potential_ last goodbye?

But the issue was resolved for him, or at least curtailed, by the intervention of a curious Mana, her gaze jumping from one side of the circle to the other as she spoke up. “Wait... Why are only some of you going? Are the rest of you taking another flight?”

“No, Mana,” Jeu answered, shaking her head with a hesitant sort of smile on her lips. “The rest of them will be staying here with us for a while. A few weeks, maybe. Until we can finish this... Research project, and figure out something about—”

“No way!” Mana screeched, cutting off whatever lie or half-truth Jeu tried to give. Her delighted smile shot first towards him, then over to Jounouchi, and finally around the group as a whole. “You’re really staying here, for _weeks_? Ah, Jeu! You should have held off on that antique game you gave me and just called THIS my late birthday present!”

“I thought you liked that game...” Jeu mumbled, barely audible amidst the Mana’s cheery cries. But even with her cousin’s pricked comments, Mana’s exuberance couldn’t be denied. Everyone she looked at was thrown by her reaction, or smiling weakly back, but in either case she had definitely managed to throw their collective sobriety off its axis.  

“-and on that note, I should be going. I will need to call Rishid and warn him he should come back,” Isis said before making her way over to Atem, stopping before him to share a quiet word as the rest of the group mingled behind her. “I have had confirmation that the exhibit will be back in the country by Saturday, and it should be available for our own needs within a couple days... I promise, I will contact you the moment I have access to it, or learn anything new. And I hope you will feel free to reach out to me, as well, if there is anything I should know, or can help you with.”

“I will,” Atem promised as he took the business card Isis offered him, an office phone number listed in a fine print text alongside her name and title, but a different, presumably personal contact number penciled in below them.

“Farewell, Pharaoh. I pray everything will be clearer by the time we meet again,” she said as they shared a nod and glance of steady conviction. Then she stepped away, moving to ask Jeu a question while Atem suddenly found himself face to face with Otogi, who had apparently been waiting for his chance to come up and shake his hand. And it took him a moment to do so, thrown by the casual move, but the Otogi didn’t comment on it.

“Take care, Y... Atem,” he said, stumbling awkwardly over the name, obviously finding it unnatural to use. But it became all too clear why he bothered to at least try for his true name when he went on, Atem’s hand tensing within frozen handshake. “I’ll visit when I can... And whether it’s by then or not, I know we’ll have Yuugi back with us in no time.”

“Aa,” Atem agreed quietly, the very mention of his partner and the need to find him still making his stomach clench. But that was a whisper next to the agony he had felt yesterday. He would not let go of the conviction he had found the night before, or betray it by showing anything but complete confidence in Otogi’s claim. That certainty was his anchor.

And whatever the case, Otogi seemed satisfied with his effort, offering a nod before letting go of him and sticking his own hands into his pockets. “Ravin says she’ll send me the full cover story as soon as it’s all worked out, and I swear I will use it if any of our friends’ families come looking for answers, and Mutou-san will do the same.” The nod to Sugoroku prompted both of them to glance across the room, to where the man was in the midst of saying goodbye to Jounouchi and Anzu. The three were sharing fond, bright smiles, clearly pasted over fear and sadness, and the sight of it set like lead in Atem’s gut. And he could only assume Otogi noticed the same, given the way he stared and then threw a warm look back to Atem. “And I’ll keep an eye on him, while all of you are gone... along with everyone else in Domino. ...I bet Shizuka-chan will especially want to know what’s going on, and need reassurance!”  

What started out as the ghost of a thankful smile fell away into bafflement as Atem stared at Otogi for his sudden shift in tone, and rise in volume. But it wasn’t hard to miss his intentions when Jounouchi’s head perked up at the use of his sister’s name, reckoning brown eyes narrowing into full-on rage as he bolted across the room. “Oi! You think you can just take advantage of me being out of town to get cozy with my sister, you ba-”

“Jounouchi-kun, stop!” Anzu cried as she trailed after him in quick strides, keeping him from making some rash move by grabbing the back of his t-shirt, before glaring over his shoulder at the unfazed, grinning Otogi. “And you- That wasn’t funny when you did it to Honda-kun, and isn’t funny now! This isn’t the time!”

“Sorry, Anzu,” Otogi answered easily, little shame on his face as he put up his hands in a placating manner. “I swear, I didn’t mean anything by it.” And yet, Atem doubted that, looking on as the three fought. He couldn’t swear it was Otogi’s intention all along... But his little jab had resulted in Sugoroku standing off alone, looking on as well... Until his glance swiveled and he and the pharaoh’s gaze clashed.

Atem’s pulse stuttered behind the poker face he strove to keep up, and steeling himself against the urge to let it crack, Atem breached the space between them, taking up Anzu and Jounouchi’s vacated place as Sugoroku’s gravelly voice quietly greeted him. “So, I am to leave you here to try and find my grandson alone.”

“I am not alone,” he answered, the counter something of a blessing given the ease it allowed him to speak with, insistence dwarfing uncertainty and shame that would have held his tongue captive in the face of Yuugi’s grandfather. “Jounouchi, Honda, Bakura, Anzu.... The Ishtars, all of them are facing this alongside me.” And Jeu, and Mana... But they were still too confusing a shock to his system to name with any reassurance. The point was to try and wipe the pained fear from the eyes of the aged man, usually so steady and ready to laugh... Even if the cost was his own peace of mind, and he had to clench his hands at his side to keep them from visibly shaking. “And- I won’t _try_. I _will_ get him back, I swear it.”

“I know,” Sugoroku answered, but the rickety assurance left Atem thinking he had not put him at any ease... And it tasted like failure on his tongue, something distant in his mind echoing back at him like a lost whisper that his job wasn’t just to protect and serve, but to make others _feel_ safe, to drive away the fear with the danger. But before the thought could formulate into something solid enough to question or consider, the elder Mutou went on, the hesitance completely gone from his voice as he stared at Atem like he could look right into his heart. “I know you will do everything to get him back. That you will not let him go.”

Atem’s mind froze, and he suddenly wanted to shrink back, to hide himself from that knowing look, without even knowing what he wanted to hide. But swallowing back his constricted air, Atem nodded all the same, glance questioning even as he insisted. “No, I won’t.”

“...’scuse me.”

The pair turned to find Jeu hovering a few steps away, her reluctance to interrupt them clear on her face. But Atem couldn’t blame her for mistaking their conversation as finished, given he and Sugoroku had been doing nothing but staring at each other for a few seconds, and so he said nothing as she hesitantly moved towards the curious Mutou. “-before you go, I wanted to give you this.” Digging into her pocket, the girl handed over a scrap of folded paper, even as Otogi moved for the door behind her with Anzu and Jounouchi, Isis trailing behind them while talking on her cell. “It’s my numbers, for the apartment and my own phone, just in case... I know you must have Atem’s and Mazaki’s and, the others’, but just in case you can’t reach them some time, and you’re concerned... Or if you need to speak to me about something?”

Atem... Couldn’t put his finger on it, but while the girl’s wary yet hopeful approach to Sugoroku _was_ strange, it felt stranger that some part of him found it completely expected that she would smile that kindly at the older man. He had no idea where that expectation came from, but it was what it was, no answers rising to his mind as he watched Sugoroku hesitantly take the paper from Jeu, looking at it a moment before giving her a baffled, wondering thanks.

Before Sugoroku could find the words to voice whatever else was clearly going through his mind, Mana popped up at Jeu’s elbow, eyes on the elder Mutou. “The others are already waiting for the elevator. Aren’t you going down with them?”

“-right, right,” Sugoroku sighed, pocketing the paper with a nod and a lingering, if silent glance at Jeu before turning to Atem once more. They shared a long, hanging breath, and then Sugoroku reached out and caught Atem by surprise by clapping him on the arm, squeezing it briefly as Sugoroku looked at him with something of that old fire back in his orchid eyes. “Keep everyone safe... And that includes _you_.”

“...aa,” Atem mumbled with a slow blink, the tension ebbing out of him in the wake of the unexpected touch, and he watched Sugoroku leave the room before slowly turning back to Jeu. She looked downright forlorn as they listened to the man’s footsteps echo away... At least until she noticed him looking at her. Then she tossed him a sad smile he could only meet with a wondering silence.

There was no time for anything else, anyways, before Jounouchi and Anzu trailed back into the room, the latter hovering uncertainly in the doorway as Jounouchi went to flop back onto the carpet where he had sat before... Though he didn’t pick up the game controller.

“...what do we do now?”

Atem couldn’t quite dredge up a reply for Anzu’s question, but after sucking in a breath and shaking her head in a clearing manner, Jeu saw to answering it herself. “That depends... Did all of you pack enough to stay here the whole trip without trouble?”

“Are you kidding?” Jounouchi scoffed with more amusement than ire, leaning back on his elbows. “We thought we’d be here for a couple days, tops. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with wearing this shirt and my other two for the rest of the trip, if need be, along with the rest of my clothes—”

“Gyaaah~!” Mana made a disgusted face, like the suggestion tasted horrible to her, while Anzu glowered scathingly at Jounouchi for the very idea.

“That’s disgusting, and you’re definitely not pulling that if you’re going to be around _us_ the whole time.”

“That, doesn’t have to be a problem,” Jeu cut in, and seeing her stuttering smile Atem honestly couldn’t say if she was laughing, or terrified by Jounouchi’s suggestion. “We can wash whatever you have- And once we get everyone fed and Malik-san comes back up, I can take you down to the Savoy Market.”

“Hey, yeah!!” Mana instantly sparked up at the idea, beaming as she left Jeu’s side to go bounce down onto a couch. “The Savoy Market is in this open building with these loooong aisles with people putting up stalls along it, selling all sorts of stuff! We can definitely find you guys clothes and food and whatever else you want there! ...though, it really is weird you guys didn’t know you’d be staying this long, before you came to Egypt. And you’ve all been acting really weird, about the others going.”

The incredulous calling out caused the visitors’ collective interest in the market to shrink back, the other four of them sharing furtive looks among themselves, until Anzu found her smile and spoke up for the lot of them. “We just didn’t expect to see them go like that, Mana-san. It was a very sudden decision, and we might not see some of them again for a long time, since we don’t all live in the same place, anyways.”

“Oh...” Mana’s brow furrowed with the explanation, clearly trying to decide if it fully answered all of her questions, but before she could decide (possibly that it _didn’t_ ) Jeu spoke up herself.

“If we’re lucky, we might even find some medicine for Honda-kun at the market, if he’s still feeling bad and can’t come with us. And once all of you are up to it, there are some local sightseeing spots to see, too, besides the palace. And... I probably shouldn’t leave all of the research to Isis-san, so I might not join in much, but all of you are welcome to use any of our games or movies, or anything else here, so long as you’re staying.”

“You have things you can research?” Atem asked, drawing Jeu’s attention but no direct answer as she looked tentatively to Mana and back to him, indicating her want to not detail anything while her cousin was there, prompting another confused frown from Mana. The necessity to be subtle, if not outright lie, left Atem stumbling for what else to say, his usual ease falling away in the face of the challenge. “...is it anything I could help with?”

“...” The girl looked honestly unsure, meeting his gaze with a silent form of ‘-can you?’ that in retrospect he wasn’t certain he could answer. Hieroglyphics were still as baffling to him as they had always been, the trip through the game-version of his memories offering him no further insight or knowledge. But he did get _feelings_ now and then, when he looked at them... And maybe they would stumble over something that might trigger some latent memory in his head. It was an unlikely thing, but it _could_ be possible...

Before he could find some safe way to say so in front of Mana, though, or a means to indicate a want to discuss it later, the house phone rang once more, prompting all of them to look up and Jeu to hesitantly step away. “Sorry- It might be one of the others down in the lobby, saying they forgot something up here.” And with that she disappeared out into the hall, leaving Atem frowning vaguely at the empty space she left behind.

“Yuugi?”

Blinking through his thoughts and turning around, Atem found Anzu sitting down herself, the kitten Smokey padding over her lap as she waved for him to come over. As Mana asked Jounouchi about the game duel he had just unpaused, Atem walked over to Anzu, standing near her with no hesitation, but some stiffness, eyeing her curiously for whatever she needed that would break the uncertain air hanging between them.

“-are you alright? You seem lighter today somehow, but I wanted to be certain.”

“Aa,” he answered on compulsion, his tone and even glance underlining the confirmation in a way his words never could. “Don’t worry about me, Anzu. I know now that we can get him back. What we need to do. I won’t forget that.” He wouldn’t let himself languish in despair anymore, however it hurt. As long as there was something to work towards, there was a chance he could make their nightmare pass, as naturally as his dream the night before.

“...I’m glad,” she answered, the truth there in her broad smile and blue eyes, the clear success of his assurance allowing Atem to relax slightly, the proof of not troubling Anzu allowing him to breathe a little easier. “It’s been far too easy to fear the worst, but if you see a way to find him, I know you’ll do it. ...it’s good to see you like this, again. You’re more yourself this way.”

Atem could only twitch a ghost of a smile for her, letting his silence hang in would-be agreement. He wasn’t about to say no, after all... ‘This way’ was certainly who he _wished_ to be, however true his previous displays of anguish and doubt had been. But before the silence could drag back into awkwardness, or they found something to say that could delay it, Jeu walked back into the room, speaking to the group as a whole with a faint smile.

“Sorry, it looks like we’ll have to delay the trip for at least a couple hours,” she said before honing in specifically on Mana. “Kuroi-sensei has a meeting this afternoon and wants to see us early. He’s on his way up right now. Might even run into the others downstairs, now that I think of it--”

“Kuroi-sensei is here?!” Mana said, jumping up from her seat with an expression that Atem couldn’t really name. One second it looked like delight, the next like sheer dread. Perhaps it was simply both. “But, why’d you agree to that?! I haven’t finished my paper for him yet!”

“...you were going to finish it by this afternoon? After shopping?” Jeu was clearly baffled rather than judgmental, and as Mana wordlessly dove out of the room in a mad rush, the grin she shot her cousin’s disappearing back was more sympathetic than anything. She only focused back on the rest of them when Anzu spoke up.

“Excuse me, but, who is Kuroi-sensei?”

“He’s our tutor, teaches at a local school and helps us with our work on the side. Namely languages, and grading what he gives us to do, but...” Her words trailed away and hung in the air as her gaze shifted to Atem, prompting the confusion that had just dissipated with her answer to resurface again. Seeing him arch his brow at her in question, Jeu broke out of whatever stupor she had fallen into with a snort, looking amused with herself as she went on. “Listen... I didn’t get a chance to warn you about Mana, but I’m giving you a heads up this time. Kuroi-sensei is definitely someone you’re going to recognize.”

Atem froze in place, staring at her in a hunt for confirmation of what he heard before swerving his glance around to Jounouchi and Anzu, finding the same surprise painted in their faces before he slowly looked up at her again. “...who is he?”

The doorbell rang, and footsteps could be heard pounding around somewhere overhead as Mana yelled, words muffled by the distance. “Can you answer that, Jeu?!”

Jeu didn’t answer directly, just shared one last, wondering glance with Atem before turning to leave the room and answer the door, leaving the trio alone, and Jounouchi and Anzu free to look to him.

“Hey man, who do you think it is?”

“Yes, she’s acting like it should be obvious, but I can’t think of anyone...”

“I think I know,” Atem said in the trail of Anzu’s uncertain words, the answer coming off of his tongue as dry and gravelly as rocks. Because, of course the two wouldn’t know to name him... The person Atem imagined had already died before his partner and friends found him in the world of his memories. They never saw him. But... Had he not, sacrificed his soul along with his life? Could it really _be him_...

“Everyone!” The first person to appear again in the doorway was Mana, beaming with only a slight shakiness to her voice as she waved to the pair coming in behind her, Jeu and... And a tall man with long, ginger-blond hair. The sight of him made Atem suck in his breath and hold it as his friends tentatively rose up around him, looking at the new arrival with a wary, uncertain sort of wonder on their faces. “This is Kuroi-sensei, our tutor! And I hope you like him; it’s thanks to him that I can talk to you at all, since he taught me and Jeu Japanese, _and_ some Arabic!”

“I teach  _you_  Japanese and Arabic” came the wry, flat correction, the man’s look to the girl as exasperated as it was patient. “Jeu barely even needs my help anymore... On those subjects,” he amended with a considering look back to Jeu, which she evasively dodged, as if she could avoid the implied criticism by simply not making eye contact.

It likely wouldn’t have worked, but lucky for Jeu she was paired with a girl who didn’t keep her protests to herself, Mana grumbling a quiet “You said her handwriting still needs a lot of work...”

“I wouldn’t be pointing fingers over that, Mitchell,” the man warned, his attention drawn shortly back to his more vocal student before catching on the others in the room, his stern expression smoothing out when he focused on them. “My apologies, you should not have to listen to this. Good morning. My name is Kuroi Mamoru.”

“Y-yo,” Jounouchi stuttered, distracted from a real reply by his efforts to figure out if the man was indeed someone he recognized, or... If he just _happened_ to look astonishingly like someone he knew only as a Duel Monster.

But Anzu at least managed to put on a proper front, smiling in a friendly if rickety way as she stepped forward and bowed in her own turn. “G-good morning, I am Mazaki Anzu. He is Jounouchi Katsuya, and this is Mu-”

“Atem,” he supplied himself, jumping in before Anzu could finish the more expected name, causing her to stumble in surprise. But, Atem just couldn’t let himself be introduced as Yuugi... Not to _him._

The man with a name of Japanese origin and shade of skin that suggested him as a local to Luxor shifted his focus and regarded the third visitor in the room... His breath catching, and vibrant violet eyes widening as soon as their gazes met.

For one, horrible moment, Atem expected him to recognize ‘Mutou Yuugi’ as Mana had, but Kuroi Mamoru said nothing for some long seconds, staring at Atem like he was a ghost come to life. Kuroi gave no indication of a true, proper recognition, yet Atem’s disappointment was largely stifled beneath the weight of the ambiguous but clear connection made, as Kuroi crossed the room and raised his hand before him in a slow, pointed gesture. “-nice to meet you.”

Atem reached out, and shook Kuroi’s hand... The hand of the priest Mahaad and spirit monster Dark Magician, come to life.


	11. Chapter 11

“Wait, what is the price of this shirt supposed to be? Is thirty-four too much? Aaaah, why did Malik and Ravin and Mitchell all leave, we need someone who knows this stuff!”

“Don’t worry, Honda-kun. Just keep an eye on what you might want to buy, and wait for them to come back and ask them about the prices then. I’ve picked out some things to ask Malik-kun about... Like this papyrus painting! Check it out, Jounouchi-kun! It has depictions of priests on it in the middle of mummifying a king!”

“Gyaaah, Bakura, don’t just spring that on me without warning me!”

“...was that not warning you?”

Atem aimlessly eyed the colorful depiction from over Jounouchi’s shoulder, the painting easy enough to see when the blond was flinching back as far from the image and the  _seemingly_  oblivious Bakura as possible. The painting had to be a copy or a fake, given how it was being so casually displayed in a market stall and the fact that, despite the presence of the appropriate Anubis, the scene displayed seemed too... Grotesque, for an authentic rendering. Atem hadn’t seen many wall carvings in Egypt or photos in books that looked like  _that_.

“Is  _that_  all you want? I didn’t expect you to have that much trouble buying a simple souvenir.” The quartet all turned around to see Malik sliding back among them, eyeing the image for himself as Bakura shook his head and pointed out various items in the stall.

“No, not just this- I was hoping for the picture there, too, plus that pair of statues, and that shirt there. And Honda wanted a couple of shirts, too. The two hanging up on the upper right there?”

“...it’s cool, I can find some clothes somewhere else, no problem. Just-” But Malik ignored Honda’s wary protests, scanning the different items Bakura indicated, and Atem could only assume adding up the price, before stepping up to the seller who sat in the stall. The man had dismissed them minutes ago, when no requests or language comprehension was forthcoming, but looked up from his newspaper as Malik spoke to him in Arabic while casual point out the wanted items.

 _Something_  he said must have not pleased the seller, because he frowned and shook his head with an indicative gesture to his wares, along with a few sharp words. Malik just gave a slow smile in answer, and something about the look cut through Atem's vague disinterest for the proceedings, his own eyes narrowing in wary question as the Ishtar leaned forward a touch and put his weight onto a hand he planted on the edge of the display table, saying something else to the man with the same easy, friendly tones. The seller didn’t react overtly, but his whole body tensed with the effort to hold back some reaction, the only outward tell Atem could see being how his eyes widening just a touch before he slid his gaze across all of their confused faces, silence hanging in the air for a breath before he gave the smallest of nods. Without another word, he rose to pick up and pull down the items asked for, while Malik stepped back and turned about with an easy smile on his face, turning to Bakura in particularly as the rest of them looked tensely on. “He’s agreed to half price for the lot of them, just pay up and take your things.”

“-that’s amazing, Malik-kun!” Bakura said with still, awed eyes, staring until movement prompted him to look over his shoulder and notice the seller holding out the purchases.

As Bakura slid to the front of the group and shuffled with foreign bills, Atem just kept his gaze pinned to Malik, not certain what to make of the vague, indecipherable, yet all too clear display. And he could hear something of the same impact in Jounouchi's voice... Plus a fair dose of disconcertion. “H-hey man, what did you say to that guy?”

“Nothing odd, just getting Bakura a fair deal.”

“Half the asked for price is a fair deal?” Atem asked, eyeing the small of Malik's back as honest curiosity mixed with troubled wondering until the Ishtar turned around.

Malik wasn’t hurried about it, and gave the once pharaoh a lingering, flat stare before providing a reply that, at least on the surface, was as laid back as the one he had offered Jounouchi. “Hardly. The shops here always list the cost at at least double what they expect to make off of the wares. The man just thought he could get the full price out of you because you wouldn’t know better.”

Atem said nothing, but quirked his eyebrows in mute astonishment before granting the said seller a second, critical once over as he handed an uncertain Honda his bought shirts. The man hadn’t struck Atem as menacing in any sense, in the way many usually rubbed him the wrong way if they harbored any ill-will. Perhaps that awareness had been something the Puzzle had granted him, and without it he was blind to such tendencies... Or, perhaps it was just such conniving was something normal, expected, and so he had not stood out to the pharaoh as unique in any way.

“Perhaps we should try another stall,” Atem said, thinking that even if they might expect the same treatment elsewhere, the man might crack and call for security if subjected to any further of Malik’s... haggling.

It was hard to say how necessary it was without knowing what Malik had said, but he gave no protest to Atem’s suggestion, shrugging with little sign of interest. “Suit yourself. But I wouldn’t go looking for food around here. The prices on the produce are steep, and definitely not worth the poor quality goods I saw. We should try the non-tourist markets.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Atem answered as Malik moved passed him, following Jounouchi as he led a meandering path through the Savoy Market. Atem trailed behind the small group at a leisurely pace, seeing no need to stay glued to anyone’s shadow. The long market aisle of stalls selling souvenirs and clothing and miscellaneous items was not crowded, and it was unlikely they would lose each other in the sparse crowd. It was funny, considering that when they first arrived Mana had claimed that it was usually much quieter there, and that she and her cousin usually only came out shopping in the morning... A mention that had come with a clear, if unstated bemoaning of how they had been delayed in their arrival because she and Jeu had spent that morning with the curious Kuroi-sensei.

After sharing a quick hello with the visitors, and getting the same vague explanations for their presence Jeu had given Mana, Kuroi had turned the focus back on his own priorities and insisted, in the politest terms possible, that the girls carry on with their lessons as normal. And so, aside from a few awkward introductions with Honda and Bakura and Malik as they came through, the rest of them spent the next couple of hours entertaining themselves, some in the living room just out of earshot of the studying teen girls and their tutor stationed at the dining room table.

Atem had stayed there, trying out that dueling game for the first time with Jounouchi, but he found himself continually distracted by the urge to go silent and turn his ear to the teacher at work across the room, striving to hear that familiar voice... Even as there remained no substance to his resulting déjà vu. Nothing that brought to mind specific buried memories of a friendship he knew once existed, but remembered no history of... Yet, listening to Kuroi berating his students and Mana striving and failing to defend herself, there was no denying the familiarity which struck him.

The man had said little directly to Atem, his focus remaining on his work. There were a few times where Atem could have _sworn_ Kuroi was looking at him, but it could have been only his own imaginings as he stole furtive looks the three’s way, some so long Jounouchi commented on his distraction. But whether or not Kuroi had been sneaking his own looks, nothing came of it, and after a while the lessen ended with the man announcing it was time for him to leave. He granted the group as a whole nothing more than a sober farewell, leaving Atem to watch him go with an uncertain, unsatisfied eye... But it had been enough. If anything, he felt like he needed time to digest the reality of that lost friend there, alive before him. He had already floundered horribly with Mana, after all, barely speaking to her despite her clear intrigue in him... Or ‘Mutou Yuugi’ as it were.

The said girl, as it happened, came into sight along with Anzu and Jeu as the boys rounded a corner, retracing their steps back to the stall they had left the girls at. Their respective backs were to them, but Jounouchi called out as soon as they were within earshot. “Yo! We had some luck on our end! What about you three?”

The trio turned about at the call, but Atem’s feet stalled as he proved himself – if only  _to_ himself – that he was  _not_ as blind to others as the seller had made him consider. For where none of the others stopped or seemed to notice,  _he_  caught the way Anzu and Jeu jolted at catching each other’s eye while turning around, their gazes instantly swerving away with silent fidgeting on both parts... Anzu looking more troubled or confused than anything while Jeu seemed... Embarrassed?

It wasn’t much of a surprise, though, that no one else noticed with Mana jumping into the silent gap with a wave and an answer. “Us too! We found a stall down a ways that sells girl clothes. It even had a changing room so Anzu-san could try them on before buying them... Oh! And, there was another stall for guys’ stuff right by it, and they’ll let you try things on, too.”

“Really?” Honda asked, looking in the direction Mana indicated. “Thanks! I’ll go ahead then. Any of you coming?” He asked without looking back, heading for the indicated stall with Bakura quick on his heel, and Malik following at a slower pace, distracted by scanning the stalls he passed.

Jounouchi hung back though, asking the girls “You coming, then?” before going on, prompting Mana and Jeu to fall in behind him as Anzu took up the back with a trailing Atem. 

Anzu smiled in greeting before her expression clouded with confusion, her gaze focusing on his empty hands. “You haven’t bought anything?”

“No,” Atem answered without compulsion, shrugging off the concern. “They don’t sell many things here in my size. I’ll figure out something... You’re taken care of, though?”

“I think so! I should be able to get by for a few weeks with this... That shop was a lucky find,” Anzu acknowledged, holding up a heavy bag indicatively before dropping it to her side again, skirting a glance checkingly towards Jeu’s back before apparently working herself up to a simple smile as she called forward to her. “Thanks for handling the haggling for me; I wouldn’t have known what to do.”

“Oh! Uh, no problem...” Jeu said as she glanced back, looking surprised and then oddly relieved by the gratitude, smiling back at Anzu until Mana cut in with a sigh and drew their collective attention.

“Aaaahh, Jeu probably could have gotten you a good deal on even more stuff, Anzu-san, if there hadn’t been a line waiting to try things on after you. Man... We should have just gone ahead and come this morning. There’s never this big a crowd when it’s early! Kuroi-sensei just had to insist on testing us on those readings today- And then grading and making us go over the mistakes right then and there, to boot!”

“The delay gave Malik-san and Honda-san time to recover enough to come along. Plus, we were supposed to have those readings done last week,” Jeu countered, but with little evident ridicule. If anything she sounded introspective, a tone that fit well with Atem’s recollection of the Ravin girl getting her own fair share of a lecture from the born again priest.

Mana though, it seemed, missed the self-inclusion in Jeu’s words and saw only censure, given how she shot her cousin a soundly betrayed look. “That doesn’t mean he had to make us do it  _right then_! He even said he was in a hurry!” she countered, but the outrage Atem saw on her face ebbed quickly away, an idea flashing openly over Mana’s profile before she burst into a sudden grin, facing forward once more. “And don’t act like it was just me. You better not get distracted from your  _own_  homework. Kuroi-sensei didn’t accept that I was out of town as a good reason, so he won’t like hearing you’ve fallen behind because we have visitors, or for this weird ‘research project’ of yours... Or that you were too busy noticing how Anzu-san looked in that orange top.”

Atem’s mind stalled with his step. He might have dismissed the words as misheard or mistaken, but Anzu went stiff beside him, Jounouchi – apparently within hearing range – skid to a stop to gawk bug-eyed at the girls, and Jeu tripped over her own feet. And he had a perfect view of the Ravin girl, aghast and red-faced, as she recovered her balance, took one lightning quick look at Anzu, then at  _him_ , and flailed at her snorting cousin. “Would you drop that already?!”

Mana only laughed at her embarrassed cry, saying something that Atem missed as he slowly slid a questioning look towards Anzu. She was wearing an odd sort of expression, something like, embarrassment or disconcertion or shaky wonder or, it was hard to say... But it nosedived instantly into an undeniable blush when she noticed  _him_  looking, her blue eyes going wide a moment before she looked the opposite way, towards a random stall.

So it,  _was_  what it sounded like?

“Geez, calm down, it was just a joke. I don’t know why you’re reacting like this- You shouldn’t be. Anzu-san  _did_  look good in that top.” Mana grinned back at Anzu, the compliment clearly carrying none of the connotations that came with her cousin’s implied, interest. And Atem could do nothing but blink dumbly at Anzu, and Jeu herself.

Jeu didn’t look back at them, flattening a hand against her face with a quiet, creaky groan, leaving Anzu to answer alone. But her blushes magically dissipated when she focused on Mana alone, and she pinned a stern glower on the younger teen. “Thank you, Mana-san, but don’t use me to tease your cousin.”

“Ah, okay, okay... I was just joking. I didn’t mean anything by it, I swear,” Mana said, her gaiety sliding into checking insistence as she swerved her smile from Anzu to Jeu, her attention lingering on her as she reached out to squeeze Jeu’s arm, earning a sigh and surrendering “Yeah, yeah, I know...” from the short girl as they started walking again.

Anzu hesitated and slowly side-glanced at Atem, as if she anticipated, or dreaded him saying something. But even when given an opening, no words came to Atem’s tongue. His mind had blanked out, emptied by the significance of what he had just heard... But, he could not say what the emotion was, filling up the emptied space in his head. All he knew was he felt suddenly... Uncertain, like he had just realized the ground beneath his feet was unstable. But he did not know how to give voice to that, or what good it would do... Or what Anzu was expecting of him. So he just stared with that vague, troubled question in his eye. But she was apparently not keen to  _volunteer_  an explanation where he didn’t venture for one, and after a few seconds and a, disappointed sort of look, Anzu jogged to catch up with the other girls, leaving him standing in the midst of the flowing crowd.

“Ah... Tough luck.”

He blinked out of his daze as he turned and found Jounouchi there, his brown eyes following the girls’ retreat. Atem wasn’t certain when exactly Jounouchi had fallen back from the front of the group, or come up beside him, but the bigger issue was definitely Jounouchi’s comment, and the oddly sympathetic tone he was using. But when they actually met eyes and Jounouchi saw the look on his face, he just grinned, shrugged, and said, “It doesn’t look like you have much of a chance there, man. Not if she’s into  _her_.”

“...what?” tripped out of him gracelessly, Jounouchi’s expansion only piling onto his confusion. For what... What could he mean by that? Was he talking about Anzu? He couldn’t see how. Atem wasn’t blind, of course. He  _knew_  the girl felt  _something_  for him... As she did for his partner... But if anything, her reaction to his presence during that exchange with the other girls had only further cemented that certainty. So what was Jounouchi talking about? Did he seriously think Anzu liked, Jeu? It was obvious that  _Jeu_  felt some sort of... Interest, in Anzu... But, that didn’t mean it was mutual.

“Well, you know, if she’s into a  _girl,_  then she isn’t likely to like... Though now that I say it, do you think she might maybe...  _Both?_ ” Jounouchi trailed off into his own thoughts, eyes widening as his attention slid back to their friends disappearing into the crowd.

Atem, more lost than ever, pulled himself out of his stupor to drag Jounouchi’s attention back to him with a sharp word. “You're jumping to conclusions. Anzu seemed embarrassed, but that doesn’t mean she  _likes_ -”

“Wait... Anzu? Who said anything about Anzu? We’re talking about Jeu.”

Atem froze as all of the tension in his body converged in his throat, his defenses going limp and leaving him no means to hide the reaction smashed open across his face. Jounouchi meant... He thought that  _he_... “...what are you talking about? I'm not-” Something was wrong with his voice. “Why would I care who  _Jeu_  likes?”

Jounouchi just kept staring right at him, the incredulity settling permanently over his face as Atem left it at that. “...seriously? You don't care?”  
  
“Of course not, why  _would_  I?” he half-repeated, his insistence near demanding in its ferocity. But try as he might, it did nothing to stop Jounouchi from snorting and grinning at him, as if to say to relax. To lighten up.

“Oh, come on. Even  _you_  can have a thing for  _somebody_. Nothing weird about that,” he assured, but the would-be comfort fell on an ungrateful, unnoticing mind. Atem tripped over the undeniable confirmation of Jounouchi’s meaning, and worse still were his actual words, the claim that he could  _like…_ somebody-

Atem’s heart somersaulted against his ribs and he choked down an uneasy breath as he strove to wipe the image of a certain face from his mind. Someone missed more than enough already without going down  _that_  line of thought. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jounouchi. I wasn’t thinking about... I just… We- I just met her yesterday!” he finally spit out, floundering under his confusing struggle to state the obvious fact that  _should_ throw a lethal wrench into the teen’s odd claims.  
  
Instead, Jounouchi hooked enthusiastically into the protest, pointing a sudden finger in Atem's face and making him jerk back before he actually poked him. “That’s just it! Just met her yesterday, and on top of that, you looked like you wanted to  _wring her neck_  half the time for a while there. But by the end of the day? Psahhh!” He shook his head in amused wonder while Atem could only stand there, thrown incomprehension the only thing shining through his empty stare. But when Jounouchi went on, mused “I don't think I've ever seen you like that before” out loud, Atem couldn’t quite help but prod further, however reluctantly.  
  
“…like what?”

“Like...... Yourself?” The uncertain, searching glance they shared that time was properly mutual, no understanding bursting to life on the once pharaoh’s face. Once Jounouchi realized that wasn’t about to change, he scoffed with a frustrated shrug and rubbed at his neck, looking more and more sorry by the second that he had ever said anything at all. “I dunno man, it's hard to explain.” It was as good an escape from the conversation as Atem could have hoped for… And yet his feet did not move, and he just kept staring expectantly at his friend, trying to ignore the strange skip-a-beat pulse resounding in his neck. “Just, watching you with her? How she talked you down from uh... You know, it's like you  _get_  each other or something. The way you talk to her and listen to her and stuff? Like you don’t have steel rods for bones?”

Atem met Jounouchi’s searching look with a flat stare, offense a pleasant distraction from his point… If only for a moment. But there was no hiding from the light Jounouchi attempted to shine, and it was all Atem could do to counter it with an earnest “...I assure you, I  _don't_ ‘get’ her” that sung with remnants of resentment and frustration that still clung to his mind when he considered the mystery of Jeu Ravin.

And yet… Looking into Jounouchi’s watching gaze? He couldn’t dredge up any more than that, settling for masking his expression and looking away before his friend might see the thoughts in his head, the doubt he had set to seed in Atem’s mind for his own behavior. For...  _Had_ he been acting differently with the Ravin girl? Yes, but... Wasn't it just the circumstances to blame? The role she was playing? Wasn't that all there was to it? “..it’s not like that.”

“Hey, if you say so.” And indeed, Jounouchi sounded honestly apologetic for a second there, putting his hands up in a placating gesture as he grinned at the dreary-faced king. “You'd know better than me. I just wanted to say it's fine if it _was_ like that, you know? No shame in it. But if not, guess there's no problem then.”

“No,” Atem answered, voice dull with distraction as he focused on nothing, waiting for the dust to settle within his own mind. Belatedly he realized he couldn't just stand there, blinking back into awareness of Jounouchi frowning at him. He couldn't bring himself to force a smile, but he bolstered his expression with forced ease. “It's fine, just a mistake. We should hurry before we lose the others.”

“Sure,” Jounouchi answered, eyeing him in clear dissatisfaction, but moving all the same, leading the way as they moved to catch up with the lost group. But Atem dragged behind, his mind running too fast to lend his feet any speed.

Perhaps, technically, he shouldn't get hung up on the whole thing, because Jounouchi  _was_  wrong. Atem had never thought anything along those lines with the girl. He wouldn’t ever even  _consider_ it… Whatever Jounouchi said about it being 'okay' to have feelings like that, Atem didn't agree. Friendships were one thing, after all… Friendships were _everything_ , but to indulge in any attachment like Jounouchi implied... Atem had known for a long time that was off limits to him, no matter  _who_  it was. He would not,  _could_  not consider such things. He had spent his time as a spirit too grateful to have his partner and friends at his side to dwell on or resent the fact, but he knew he could not have anything like that. Not when he knew, near from the start, that he was bound to leave.

He was not blind to how Anzu felt about him, and the fact that he was going to cross over to the afterlife. How much worse might it have been, or might it yet be, if he had allowed himself the luxury of pulling the blinds off of his own eyes, searched his own heart to see if those feelings were at all mutual? Yes, he might well harbor feelings for Anzu, there might be something there with Jeu as Jounouchi claimed, and… He, did not need anyone to point out who already claimed an unspecified portion of his heart… But, if he let those possibilities become anything, he would be constructing a bond too excruciating to break.

That  _would_ break.

Why would he look for that?

“-there you two are. I hate to say it, but if Atem  _does_  need clothes, there is a stall for kids' things here I can  _sometimes_ find... What's wrong?”

Atem ceased his thoughtless steps as Jeu spotted him in Jounouchi’s shadow. Looking up, he found the two of them staring at him, outright alarm on their faces. The expressions made him suddenly hyper-aware of himself, of how he must have been displaying something of his thoughts even with his eyes down turned, of how his fingers had been clenching into the front of his shirt, wrinkling the spot where the Puzzle should have rested against his stomach.

“-nothing,” he said as he slowly loosened his fingers, letting his hand drop as he schooled any feeling from his face. “You know a place where I can find some clothes?”

“...yeah,” Jeu finally answered, clearly more focused on whatever she sought within her own mind, or in his face, than her actual words. “It’s just ahead; I asked the others to wait there for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Y-yeah,” Jounouchi echoed his flat thanks, looking between them with an uncertain frown before shaking his head and moving passed them both, mumbling something about splitting the price of a pack of socks with Honda. Jeu, though, remained where she was, waiting until Jounouchi had fully passed before striving to catch Atem’s eye again, even as he kept looking over her shoulder towards the distant group.

“...there’s no reason to rush, you know. The clothes will keep, and we can always come back if we need to. If something is on your mind-”

“I’d rather get it over with,” Atem interrupted sharply, skimming his attention back to the girl only a moment before looking away again. He managed to smash down the oddly desperate need to pull away long enough to give a properly calm “Thank you” before moving forward, but there was no escaping the feeling in his gut that he had done something not just regretful, but  _wrong_. And the confused hurt he saw flash across Jeu’s face, just out of the corner of his vision as he passed her, was all the proof he needed to see that it wasn’t just him who felt the impact.

But it had to be done... If Jounouchi was wrong, and there was nothing there, he needed to  _keep it_  that way.

He knew all too well that even friendly, relaxed contact could prove more than enough, to prompt feelings that shouldn’t be...


	12. Chapter 12

“Isis says they’ve managed to get the exhibit into the country,” Malik reported as he walked into the living room, heading straight to the dining room where Atem and Jounouchi sat at the table. “They’re still struggling to get all of the pieces through customs, though, and even if she can talk them into handing them over and rushing it, it will be hours before they get the crates and can unpack them safely. She said she’ll call again if she manages to get it all done tonight, but either way, she still needs to actually go through it all again.”

Atem gave Malik a quick, dull sideways glance, but otherwise didn’t answer for some moments, for all appearances too absorbed in picking his next game move to bother. It was easier that way to cover the frustration that ate at his insides, threatening to rise into full blown anger, if not properly squashed. Only once he managed it, made his move, and flipped four disks to black as Jounouchi groaned, did Atem actually answer. “It's progress, at least. I’ll try to catch Isis myself next time to thank her.”

“If you like. She’ll keep working at it either way,” Malik answered as he moved closer and stared idly at the Reversi board between the other two, quickly smirking at Jounouchi. “You know you have an obvious opening there, right?”

“What- It, of course I do! Don’t rush me, I’m trying to think up a strategy for winning,” Jounouchi said with a glare before frowning back at the board... Grumbling further after a few seconds. “Okay fine, I don’t see it. But don’t tell me! I want to figure it out on my own.”

“Suit yourself,” Malik answered, looking more amused than anything as he moved away, heading back the way he had come. “Since that’s taken care of, I’m heading out.”

“See ya!” Jounouchi yelled thoughtlessly for the both of them before blinking and doing a double take at the just closed door. “Wait, where’s he going to go?”

“Who knows? Perhaps he’s joining the others.” Anzu, Honda, and Bakura had all gone out for the day, after all, Bakura having enthusiastically called for a visit to an open air museum in Karnak. It wouldn’t be difficult for Malik to catch up to them since his motorcycle had been shipped to Luxor some days ago, giving him a means to move freely around the city where the others had to either walk or take the bus. But Malik had been out on the bike a lot since its arrival... It wouldn’t be a shock if he was simply going out for a drive, maybe explore the area on his own, or just simply put some needed distance between himself and the city for a while.

Malik, like everyone else, was clearly feeling the burn of the lost days. Local attractions were all but exhausted, and no more than a passing distraction for most of them anyways. And Atem... After the first couple trips out to different ruins, he quickly realized that he had no stomach for seeing them. His barely tapped memories remained as incomplete as ever, nothing of the sights around him triggering any concrete recollections, but seeing one proof after another of a world he barely recalled dissolving into the sands of time... He had long been convinced that he needed to move on himself. He didn’t need to look around him for further reminders.

Since then he had stayed close to the apartment, going out for a group meal or a walk now and then, but little else. And no one had said anything to him about it, but he knew that his friends were purposely taking turns keeping him company, determined not to leave him on his own. He wasn’t certain what they suspected he might do in their absence, but he made no active protest when he constantly found himself with one or other of them on hand... Watching some gruesome film with Bakura yesterday, checking out the building’s pool with Anzu the day before that, getting dragged into an impromptu nerf war in one of the empty apartments with Jounouchi, Honda, and Mana the day before  _that_...

Jounouchi alone had hung back that day, though, and where Atem had spent much of the trip striving to remain positive, to appreciate his friends’ efforts and let them distract him as much as possible he just… He was running very, very low on the motivation to try. They had been in Luxor for  _twelve days_  without any sign of expected trouble. No progress made, no knowledge gained, the contents of his tomb lost somewhere between France and Egypt. The last point might finally be fixed, but the royal exhibit still remained out of Isis’s reach, and there was no telling if the delivery would be delayed again. It was as if something was striving to obstruct them, trying to make the clock run out… And Atem was just sitting there, playing a game.

But, worst of all was the tidbit of information Malik had thought to pass on to Atem that very morning, after finally double checking the calendar line ups with his sister. The feast of Ma’at, the deadline Shadi had warned them about, when it would be too late to stop this ‘Devourer’ was October 7…

Two months away, that day, exactly.

Two months, and if he had no answers by then, some unknown danger would catch up to them, maybe destroy them all, and Yuugi would never be found…

“…aaaah, why did Malik have to say there was a good move? I can see a couple things to do, but I don’t know which one he meant!”

“Both could be good moves,” Atem suggested, squeezing his eyes closed a moment, trying to push away the thoughts that lingered like a churning headache. Fortunately, Jounouchi didn’t seem to notice, as the blond was still focusing on the board with clear frustration, prompting him to speak up again. “And if you make a bad one, learn from it. It’s your first time playing this, isn’t it? It’s about testing and learning.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna just  _hand_  you a win!” Jounouchi countered, pinning him with a smile that Atem had to slowly match with a weak, if genuine grin of his own. Shaking his head roughly and hmming and hawing, Jounouchi finally picked a move, gaining three white disks back in the process.

It wasn’t a bad choice.

Three turns later they were still playing at near even odds when approaching footsteps prompted Atem to stop scrutinizing the board. Looking up, he jolted upright in his seat when he saw Kuroi Mamoru walking through the door, his gaze glowering down at some paper he was reading inside a pink folder. A few steps into the room, he shook his head and shut the folder, but the frown on his face didn’t dissipate until he actually looked up to find the two boys staring at him. “Oh, you’re both still here… Were you waiting to get back into the game room?”

“Yeah well, we were in the middle of playing a video game up there, but since you said it was too loud…” Jounouchi answered, trailing off awkwardly. The teen just didn’t seem to know how to act around Kuroi, a  _teacher_ but certainly no normal one. Kuroi’s open ease of behavior around the girls made him seem more like an older brother than a simple instructor… A scenario that left Atem wondering at the irony of fate, and repeating history.

“Yes, I don’t know why Ravin put her study right next to that room. I apologize for keeping you from your game, but I needed them to focus on their tests.”

“It’s fine. We found a board game to play instead,” Atem said, and predictably the tutor focused on him and, considered. He kept doing that… Atem wasn’t certain what it meant, as Kuroi had never indicated in any concrete way that he was  _aware_  of the link between them… But still, he kept just  _looking_  at Atem like he was searching for something, or as if Atem was constantly saying things that didn’t quite add up, and Kuroi was trying to puzzle out the meaning behind his every word.

And, as always, the odd assessment went unmentioned, the prolonged stare passing with a delayed answer from the incomprehensible teacher. “That’s good to hear. And I will see if we can’t arrange these sessions a little better next time, if you plan to be in the apartment beyond next week.”

“Yeaaah, we’ll probably be around for a while,” Jounouchi said with vague uncertainty, side-glancing at Atem as if for confirmation or backing. But Jounouchi’s likely prediction left the tri-colored teen in a distracted silence, frowning at the Reversi board as he considered how they likely _would_ still be there for many tutoring sessions to come, given the rate things were going at…

“I’ll speak to Ravin and Mitchell about it later, then… But, in the meantime, I was hoping I could have a word with you.”

Confusion stained Atem’s glower on his next blink, silence dragging on for a few seconds as he slowly turned his struggling comprehension on Kuroi. For indeed, the tutor had said that… And he  _had_ been focusing at Atem when he said it, to boot. Atem shared a passing, mutually confused look with Jounouchi. Besides a few passing conversations like the one the three had just shared, Kuroi had never sought to say anything of substance to Atem or any of his friends.

“What about?”

“Ravin,” Kuroi began, not noticing in the midst of straightening his papers and folders how Atem’s face darkened with disappointment, impulsive hopes that he _did_ recognize him after all dashed before he could even stifle them. “I have heard that you and the other visitors are here to help her with research related to the Luxor palace ruins… In some manner.” He paused with a pointed glance towards the game board between the boys, causing both to tense in fear of _what_ exactly he was about to ask. But Kuroi’s comments did not stay pinned to the subject, and the suspicion Atem thought he saw in Kuroi’s face quickly proved to be  _concern_ , clear as day when the man focused his violet eyes back on him alone. “But, if that is the case, I was hoping you or one of the others could talk to Ravin about stopping, or at least slowing down, or having one of you take on some of her work.”

“…why?” Atem finally managed to ask, potential answers swimming about his head. Was it nothing more than a tutor’s worry that their pupil was distracted from their studies?

The troubled, yet confused frown Kuroi gave the ground between them said otherwise. “I have been teaching the girl for years, since I first graduated, and I know she is prone to pushing herself. Taking on strange assignments, researching things for Crawford-san, mastering some game or another... But, she is wearing herself thin on this one, whatever it is, much more than usual. She’s listless, her marks are dropping fast, and Mitchell tells me she isn’t sleeping.”

Kuroi didn’t ever directly glare or look sternly at them in anyway, his narrowed stare hovering somewhere near Atem’s feet as though it would be rude to throw his complaints directly at him. And yet his aim was still on the mark, both teens struck silent and uncertain, and Atem wasn’t sure what to think.

In truth, he had seen little of Jeu in the last two weeks, shared nothing with her beyond a quick hello at breakfast and a random nod in the hall. The only time they were around each other beyond that, it was with the whole group, gathered in her living room to watch some movie or have dinner. And where the girl was comfortable enough talking to her cousin, Jounouchi or Bakura, even shared some awkward but genuine smiles with Anzu… The odd ease between them Atem had never understood, seemed to be gone.

He knew it was probably his fault. Even if he had said nothing, he had purposely shrugged her off at the market, and had been keeping his comments to her since then limited to direct answers to questions, or inquiries about what they were to do, what they should expect while in Luxor… Practical things. It had been a shift Atem had felt necessary, but if he were honest with himself, he had expected the distancing to be far more… Difficult. That he would have to work harder to reestablish the arm’s length distance he kept between him and most around him, save his closest friends. That Jeu would confront him about the sudden cold shoulder.

But she hadn’t… She had simply drawn away, and disappeared into her study.

If he were honest with himself, Atem would say that, on some level? He was as disappointed as he was relieved…

“What makes you think we can get through to her?” Atem asked, keeping his expression schooled with simple curiosity as he scoured Kuroi’s own face for insight, but all he got for his trouble was a down-turned glower.

“Are you not her research partners?”

“Yeah but, Jeu’s the only one who understands most of that stuff. We’re just here for…” Jounouchi trailed off as he searched for a word, and his struggle for one only tripled when Kuroi actually  _focused_ on him, waiting expectantly for an answer.

“Testimonies,” Atem supplied shortly, and changed the subject quickly before his own front could crack under Kuroi’s returned attention. “We’ll make sure she isn’t overworking herself, though.”

“I  _know_  she is,” Kuroi insisted, expression softening with a note of self-reprimand. “And she won’t tell me what she is studying, so I don’t know how to help her, or what is troubling her so.”

Slowly something darker, heavier than curiosity or concern began to churn in Atem’s mind, the description Kuroi gave painting an image that made his brow furrow as he glanced questioningly up at the ceiling, towards the upstairs room where the girl in question so often hid. For… What was Jeu  _doing_ up there? What had she found, that would put her into such a state, that she wouldn’t share with them voluntarily?

“…I’ll talk to her,” Atem said firmly, suspicion keeping even false reassurance from his voice. Still, the shadows of distress on Kuroi’s face ebbed away, and where Atem alone might have dismissed it with his attention turned upward, Jounouchi was quick enough to catch and call him out.

“Hey, why not just ask Mana about all of this? Why come to us? And by us, I mean  _him_ ,” Jounouchi emphasized with a point of his thumb towards Atem, who focused back on them with a taken-aback, but still clear interest in the answer.

Kuroi, though, said nothing. Just looked from Jounouchi to Atem with a mute, considering sort of stare. The same one he always gave him… And then turned to leave with a few last, unrelated words. “Try to talk to her as soon as possible. She has a science test on Monday.”

He was maybe two steps out into the hall before Jounouchi leaned in and hissed in Atem’s ear, the revived king keeping still with his own gaze pinned to the exit. “Okay,  _seriously_. I know you told us who he was, Atem, but even knowing that, that guy is acting  _weird_.”   
  
“Aa…” Atem answered quietly, too distracted by what he had been told to properly consider anything else, be it subtle points like how Jounouchi was slowly growing comfortable using his true name, or the mysterious quirks of his priest’s reincarnation.  _That_  he could at least explain through some sort of continuous déjà vu on Kuroi’s part, if nothing else. And where there  _might_ be another reason, Atem felt in his gut that Kuroi wasn’t hiding anything that could hurt them.

He felt no such certainty when it came to their hostess.

Standing slowly up, he made the game move he had been considering before Kuroi’s entrance, claiming two Reversi disks and setting them aside as Jounouchi just kept frowning, too distracted himself to properly react to the loss of the pieces. “Your move- Unless you don’t want to wait until I come back. Then I fold.”

“I’ll wait,” Jounouchi said, though in the same breath he pushed his chair back by a foot on the table leg, ready to rise. “Though- You want me to come with you? My turn can hold until you’re done talking to Jeu- You  _are_ going to talk to Jeu, right?”

“Yes, but I’ll go alone. She might be more willing to talk one on one… I’ll call you if it goes sour.”

Jounouchi nodded slowly, although there was clearly a question in his frown that Atem could only assume was due to his own grim tones. Atem wasn’t certain if Jounouchi shared his suspicions that Jeu might be potentially,  _deliberately_ hiding something, something crucial, but it didn’t matter… Not at that point.

Making his own way through the house, Atem stopped only to hover outside one of the various closed doors on the second floor. The _neighboring_ door was the only one he had gone through yet. It led to the vast game room Mana had shown off to them days ago, and offered as another place to hang out. The rest of the rooms, though… They were the girls’ territory, thus far untouched.

But he could hear both of them talking inside, words muffled by the shut door, and Atem knocked and waited only long enough for the expected answer before walking in.

“-oh hey!” Mana said as she rose from her seat, her smile and tone equal parts shocked and pleased to see him. Her cousin, on the other hand, remained at her desk, pulling her nose out of some heavy book only to blink the stars of focus and exhaustion out of her eyes upon seeing  _him_  there, staring at him as though uncertain whether or not he had _intended_ to end up in her study. As if she couldn’t believe he was looking to talk to  _her_ , even as Atem kept his gaze leveled soundly on her, and not Mana.

“…is Kuroi-sensei gone?” Jeu asked after an uncertain delay.

“Yes, he left just a minute ago,” Atem answered, sticking his hands into the pockets of his khaki pants as he hovered in the doorway, well aware of how he had allowed an awkward silence to fall. He felt no qualms about creating it or letting it linger. It gave him time to take in the office, with its white furnishings, green walls, haphazard shelves of books, bulky computers, and photocopy after photocopy of hieroglyphs of ruin walls spread out across the floor... No clear order to the chaos that he could see, despite his certainty that those photos must be what Jeu had been pouring over all of that time, there in the study. 

The only truly clear areas in the room were the stations the two girls had taken up on either side of a large desk, cleared of everything save some textbooks and notebooks. But Mana braved straying from that clean circle to thread her way over to him, managing to avoid stepping on a single photo. “We thought Kuroi-sensei had forgotten to give us something- Another assignment, maybe.” She twisted her face at the very suggestion. “Did you want to use the game room again? It’s okay! We’re done with our homework and stuff for today. Maybe I can come play with you or watch-”

“Ah, Mana? We still need to clean up the photos you knocked over this morning?” The reminder was more question than demand, and the grin Jeu gave the suddenly deflated girl was apologetic, but still no actual protests were forthcoming. Mana just grimaced, made a reluctant noise, and moved back to gather her own things up. Jeu focused back on Atem with a friendly smile, her would-be welcoming air completely undermined by the uncertainty in her shadow-rimmed eyes when she looked at him. It made his gut clench with something approaching guilt. “We don’t need quiet for cleaning, though. Feel free to use the game room whenever you want.”

“Right,” Atem answered, then went silent again, finding himself at an unexpected roadblock recognizing the challenge before him: trying to talk to Jeu alone, without raising suspicion. And the conundrum must have shown on his face, given how Jeu's smile dropped into confusion even _before_ he found something to say. “But... If Mana wants to go, I can help you clean up here.”

-that must have been the wrong move, because  _Mana_  paused to stare at him right along with her cousin, shock overriding any would-be eagerness to abandon her chore. But Atem strained to keep his expression steady beneath Jeu’s quiet scrutiny until she actually filled the silence herself. “…thanks, but they have to go in a certain order I’ve already shown Mana. And it wouldn’t be right to ask you, anyways. You’re our guest… And isn’t Jounouchi-kun waiting for you?”

It wasn’t going to work. A few seconds’ frustration was all it took for Atem to face the fact that, whatever success he might have found in feinting a move within the bounds of a game, that was no basis for coaxing someone into a private talk with false excuses. He didn’t know how to go about it, and something about Jeu’s watchful stare told him that  _she_  was not the right person to make novice attempts on.

“Honestly, I was hoping for a chance to talk to you,” he said with a would-be casual shrug and pointed look at Jeu, refusing to react to Mana’s obvious confusion.

Jeu, though… She looked debatably as thrown as Mana, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes before hesitantly edging forward herself. “Is it something serious?”

“No, it’s just…” Just… What, exactly? What could he say to her, even  _if_ Mana miraculously left the room at that point, rather than hover just at her cousin’s shoulder? Actually standing there, looking into the Jeu’s wary, yet tentatively hopeful eyes, Atem found it strangely difficult to keep his hold on his suspicions of foul play. But… At the very least, Kuroi had made it clear  _something_ was going on. He needed to be sure- He needed to know what was going on… Whatever it turned out to be.

But he still needed to answer her, and letting his mind bounce around any possible replies, Atem finally settled on the one viable, unsuspicious excuse that occurred to him. “…I was hoping we could have that duel you promised me, before dinner tonight?”

“Duel?” It was Mana who answered, the hesitant surprise in Jeu’s own face tensing in the shadow of Mana’s gawking, her wide green eyes shifting from the girl to  _him_ in quick succession. “Jeu, promised to duel?  _You_?”

...that was  _definitely_  the wrong move. No, it wouldn't work at all if Mana was there for the duel, making it impossible to question Jeu over the cards. But there was no taking it back, leaving him to awkwardly nod and give a quiet confirming sound while Jeu struggled to intervene. “That is-”

“No  _way_ , I can’t believe it! She  _never_  duels! And with  _you_?” Mana seemed torn between wonder and sheer delight, the conflict giving Atem just enough time to pin Jeu with a confused look for Mana's claims. But within a beat Mana jumped for her cousin's shoulders, turning Jeu's reluctant stare into a grimace at the affectionate pounce. “Come on, you have to do it if you promised! These pictures can wait, just duel _now_!”

“I’m playing Reversi with Jounouchi right-” Atem's efforts to back out died in his throat as he realized Mana wasn't listening, bolting out of the room before he could even finish talking and leaving him to frown in her wake. “-where is she going?”

“My guess, Jounouchi-kun.” Jeu rubbed at her cheek in a weary manner as she answered, stalling only when she squinted up at Atem with a question of her own. “Any chance he was  _really_  into the game you were play-”

“ _Awesome_!”

Jounouchi's distant cry cut the question off prematurely, the two left staring at one another in baffled disbelief until Jeu suddenly cracked with a snort and a grinning head shake. “Looks like we have an audience lined up.” 

“Looks like it,” he echoed, inwardly marveling at how quickly his efforts had unraveled... And how, if he were honest, he didn't mind too much. Getting Jeu out of her office might yet result in a chance to question her, after all, and if not... If not, having to duel her was certainly not the worst punishment for failure he could ever imagine.

Standing with a sigh, Jeu gave a slow stretch before looking at him again, giving a tentative smile that Atem, perhaps despite himself, had to return… At least a little. “We can always tell them no, or put it off but, I  _did_ get that deck together, so… I'm up for it if you are.”

Pulling his hands from his pockets, Atem crossed his arms across his chest and black t-shirt, cocking an eyebrow at her before answering with an inquiry of his own. “Where to?”

* * *

“I sacrifice The Tricky, summoning Dark Magician Girl from my hand– And then play Sage Stone, summoning Dark Magician along with her.” 

“Aaah, his dark magicians! I never thought I would get to see them in person!”

Atem gave a passing glance across the roof, not certain how to sort out the feelings that passed through him to see Mana there, beside Jounouchi, beaming at him… At the two monsters he had summoned, representing her own  _ka_ and that of Mahaad. The resemblance  _had_ to be clear to her, but she gave no sign of confusion… Had she recognized it long ago and given up on the mystery? Did she think it a coincidence? Or, maybe that her cousin or Pegasus had created two spell casters that looked just like them on purpose?

He couldn’t say, and he certainly couldn’t focus on the question right then. And so he turned back to his opponent, hovering there on the opposite side of the pool, their duel disks up and their summoned monsters and face-down card ‘floating’ above the water.

Atem wasn’t certain what he had expected when he started his first turn. Twenty or so moves into the game it remained a close duel. His life points were down to 300 and a single, small successful hit could drop them down to zero, and while he had Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast and Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight on the field alongside the dark magicians, Jeu remained well protected herself by Injection Fairy Lily, Familiar-Possessed Aussa, and Granmarg the Rock Monarch.

The new duel monsters among the familiar had earned as much wonder from him as from Jounouchi, but with each turn Atem was struck with odd sensations. On one hand, something about the way Jeu played rang as, important to him, familiar.. And on the other it needled him in a strange way, sparking a warning in his brain that something was _off._

He couldn’t pay it any mind, though. Not yet. Jeu had already proven herself to be deadly if not taken seriously. He might be at an advantage in the number of monsters on the field, and Jeu wasn’t far behind him in life points with a measly 700, but Atem found his gaze sliding again and again to her down face card. She had managed to catch him with Draining Shield twice already, and if she did it again, she might end up with enough points to overwhelm him with Injection Fairy Lily _again_.

But, with his hand empty of all but one card, it was the best chance he had…

“Battle Phase. I attack Familiar-Possessed Aussa with Dark Magician!”

“Sorry,” Jeu interrupted, her apology as firm as stone as she kept her gaze pinned to his own, flipping a card without looking down. “I counter the attack with Mirror Force, and all of your face-up monsters are destroyed.”

Jounouchi gave an astonished, dismayed sound at the successful destruction of Atem’s whole team in one go, and Mana cheered her approval to her cousin even as she grumbled at the quick disappearance of the famous monsters, but Atem himself remained unfazed. No, if anything, the longer he let the moment drag on the more he calculated that that had been  _good_. Jeu’s continuous traps were used up, she hadn’t increased her life points as he had feared, and she had only two cards left in her hand. One of them could yet prove his undoing, but… Had he already won, as he suspected?

The first step to finding out was to play one of his three set traps.

“I activate Call of the Haunted, bringing Dark Magician back to the field, and end my turn.” And again, he was protected by the strongest monster on the field, earning a relieved sigh from Jounouchi while Jeu made a face Atem could only interpret as ‘Aaaaah, I see’ before drawing, considering her hand of now three cards before playing one.

“Then I activate Hammer Shot to take out the duel monster with the highest attack points. That would be your Dark Magician.”

“Nice try,” Atem said to the poised girl, a smile twitching at his lips before he lifted his second trap. “I play Magic Drain by discarding a spell card – Tricky Spell 4 – and negate the activation of your own spell.”

Dark Magician was still safe. And this time Atem could see the uncertainty slip into Jeu’s expression, her eyes sliding down to consider the two cards left in her hand. It wasn’t the look of someone trapped… She was considering her options. And so he waited, tense with expectation and, perhaps, exhilaration, until she finally looked up with fragile decision in her eyes, and made her move.

“In that case, I equip Shooting Star Bow - Ceal to Familiar-Possessed Aussa. Her attack points go down by 1000, but she can now attack the player directly.”

“What?!” Jounouchi cried, looking with alarm from the said monster to Atem as Mana stumbled through her own revelation.

“Then, Aussa can do 850 points in damage, so… So Yuugi-kun loses, doesn’t he?”  
  
Atem didn’t react. Not to Jounouchi’s shock, or Mana’s calculation. Their words were completely numbed from his mind as he kept frowning at Jeu, who met his stare with a confused look of her own, discomfort seeping into her face even as his silence indicated her success in activating the spell card.

“…then, Battle Phase. Aussa, attack the player directly!”

“I activate Magic Cylinder,” Atem said quietly, likely barely audible across the pool. But it activated all the same. Where Jounouchi and Mana were openly astounded, Jeu showed no sign of shock. Atem’s ears rang with that silent chime of _wrong_ to see that expectant look in Jeu’s eye as her life points dwindled to zero, the monsters remaining all disappearing in a spray of light.

Silence fell over the roof in the moments that followed, each in their own way adjusting to the sudden end of the quick fire duel. Atem remained stuck in his stillness, and Jeu… Jeu was apparently caught up in her own thoughts. She stared down at the blinking ‘0’ on her duel disk with a sadness Atem knew, somehow, had nothing to do with the actual loss. But eventually she raised her head, and tried for a grin he didn’t return. “Nice play- You had that field stacked and ready for anything, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, he sure did, but  _wow_ , you two!! That was something else!”

“You know it, Mana- But seriously, Jeu! Were those new cards the ones you were talking about? The one’s coming out soon? I thought they weren’t ready yet!”

Jeu turned her smile on the small, enthusiastic audience, the odd emotions seeping out of her face as she answered Jounouchi’s call. “They weren’t, but Pegasus just released some of them last week in the states! I had a few shipped over and added-”

“Why did you play that?”

The conversation cut off, tension falling heavy over their heads with a suddenness that took them all by surprise… All save Atem, who kept his unblinking stare pinned to Jeu, anger beginning to openly simmer and prod at the flat front he strove to keep in place as she slowly turned back to him.

“…what?”

“Shooting Star Bow – Ceal, why did you play it?” The three were staring at him, as baffled as they were wary, but he couldn’t care less, couldn’t _let_ himself as he kept skipping his questions across the water’s surface. “What card is that still in your hand?”

“Atem, what you getting at…?” Jounouchi tried to intervene, but stumbled with the effort, clearly torn in whether to stop his friend or not. And it proved not really necessary. Jeu might stare at Atem like he was insulting her, hurting her for something she couldn’t help, but she answered, in her own way… Turning the card in her hand over for him to see.

“Messenger of Peace…”

Messenger of Peace… It would have been a drain on what life points she still had, but it  _had_ been an option. Perhaps the risk involved in playing it should have been explanation enough to placate Atem. It was a perfectly legitimate risk, playing the Shooting Star Bow – Ceal… But he couldn’t explain it. He didn’t understand his own rage, knew nothing save that it was caused by the girl, and the move she had decided to make. The very way she had played all along, from the beginning… It was  _wrong_. The unexplained, discordant feeling was so strong he hesitated only a moment before narrowing his eyes at Jeu. “Those aren’t your normal cards… That isn’t even your deck.”

It didn’t make sense, and he knew it, and he heard it as Mana’s confusion turned to protective anger with a yell of “What are you talking about?! Jeu just said some of the cards are new, and to top that she doesn’t even play much! How can she have any ‘normal’ cards or deck?”

But he also saw the look that crossed Jeu’s face before she could fully cover it. The shock, the unease, the aversion…

The truth.

Atem gathered his cards and shut away his duel disk with a few, sharp movements. His gaze never wavered in its accusation, and then he was simply standing there, staring at the girl who slowly lowered her own disk, tense, her lips clinched together as she didn’t look away, didn’t hide. Didn’t even try to defend herself.

It was true. He wasn’t even certain what ‘it’ was, but she  _was_ hiding herself from him. He had sensed nothing of the girl’s own heart in the duel, her own feelings, nothing but raw skill and experience being tossed around with no unique style or self-expression beyond a clear capability to play that murdered any excuse of ignorance on her part. It was an impossible thing to truly explain or point at, and if she had not capitulated to his claims so quickly, he might have been wary to attack her for it.

As it was, he stared into those gray eyes that  _saw_ him yet offered him nothing in return, and spoke. Calm. Merciless.

“If you won’t duel honestly, then you shouldn’t play at all.”

“H-hey, Atem- What are you saying? Hey!” Jounouchi yelled after him as he turned and walked evenly, decisively away from the pool, from the girl, heading back into the apartment building… The burn of his friends’ confusion and Jeu’s silent, devastated gaze sizzling on the back of his neck until he shut the door behind him, and cut it off.


	13. Chapter 13

Atem stepped outside, abandoning the bright Acadia Apartments’ lobby for the shadows of the street. The air outside was crisp, colder than he could have expected, the wind catching him under his t-shirt. He tugged Yuugi’s school jacket tighter about himself, and kept his fingers clenched in its hem as he crossed the road, eyes glued to the ground and his sneakers.

He couldn't swear how far he had walked when a soft, rolling rumble cut through the near silence of his own footsteps and a rare car engine. Coming up short on a random street corner, Atem looked up, only to blink as a chilled droplet caught him in the face. It warmed even as it slid down his cheek, and he wiped it away, staring up in disbelief. Rain... Rain wasn't normal there, was it? Dead, foggy recollections and basic logic agreed that the country, that far south of the sea, was supposed to be as dry as the sands that covered it, rainfall as rare as an eclipse. And yet clouds lingered overhead, heavy and dark, unleashing a seemingly innocuous drizzle over the city that grew more ferocious by the second, even as he stared.

Perhaps Atem should have dived for cover, turned around immediately and doubled back to the apartment building. But he just stood there and shut his eyes against the downpour, the sensation of it drenching him both mundane and surreal. He knew the sensation well enough from Yuugi’s provided memories and a few sparse examples of his own, experienced within his partner’s flesh, and yet it still smacked him with a bittersweet wonder.

Even as the rain chilled him further, standing in the rain was more marvel than trial… And certainly more attractive than turning around and going back.

Atem had passed the last few hours since that blasted duel holed up in his claimed bedroom, his cards spread out about him for his perusal and brooding attention. He strove to find some concrete proof to back the gut reaction that had struck him up by the pool... But it just wasn't to be found within his own cards or recollections. He had only stopped when Malik came by to tell him dinner was ready. After gathering his deck back together with the Ishtar’s unexpected help, he had joined the others only to find all of them suddenly tense about him, their awareness of what had happened that afternoon clear in their every glance.

Most of them at least tried to be subtle about it, and didn’t say anything. But  _Mana_  spent the whole meal glowering at him, clearly working up something she wished to say in regards to her conspicuously absent cousin. Her confused, angry, even hurt frowns battered against the walls of Atem’s composure, and when Mana finally looked ready to snap and burst with whatever was on her mind, Atem got up and left, claiming a lack of hunger and exhaustion as he retreated into the hall… And out the front door. He knew, without a doubt, that even if someone calmed Mana down,  _someone_ would come looking for him. And he didn’t want to talk. None of them likely had anything to say  _he_ hadn’t thought first himself.

Even if he remained convinced that Jeu had played dishonestly with him, he realized in retrospect that he had accomplished nothing with his reaction. After his initial anger and odd sense of betrayal simmered away, he was left with a bizarre, alarmingly sour sensation in his gut, and the bigger question of  _why_. Why would the girl play like that with him? What was she trying to hide? What did it  _mean_? He didn't know, and instead of unearthing much needed answers, he had tripped further into obscurity.

Jeu had somehow gone from a likely threat, to his best hope, to a giant, disturbing question mark all over again.

A car a street or two over honked over the roar of the downpour, and Atem flinched as though it had gone off right in his ear, an unwanted intruder in his internal struggle to decide what to do.

_Aibou, you would tell me to give her the benefit of the doubt, wouldn’t you? To beware of the worst, but hope for the best…_

The rain thundered all around him, poured over him so heavily he ached to let it knock him over, smash him beneath the silence that answered him. It wasn’t even  _words_ he needed. It was the  _warmth of that soul_  he craved, and without it his skin crawled, his very bones shivering against a chill that had nothing to do with the rain.

“Atem.”

He froze. Swallowed. He had not felt it with water still dripping down his face and back, but as soon as he heard his name spoken and opened his eyes, Atem realized the downpour was no longer hitting him. A blue umbrella had popped up over his head, protecting him from the rain.

Turning slowly around to face the one holding it up, Atem shared a long, tense stare with Jeu, neither willing to blink or speak or offer anything but wary, searching acknowledgement. The girl was largely dry, but the offering of her umbrella left her half-exposed, her short golden hair flattening before his eyes beneath the rain's mist. But he couldn’t find his tongue or the use of his muscles enough to do anything about it, be it refuse the help, step forward into a proper sharing range, or take the umbrella for himself.

How could she possibly  _be_  there? She was supposed to be wrapped up in some translation work in her office, according to Mana, and likely not to come out again for the rest of the night. And yet there she was. Jeu had somehow noticed his absence quickly enough to catch him, tracked him down where no one else had... Even stared at him with a touch of sad empathy amid the standoff, as if she somehow  _knew_ what he had been thinking. Was she psychic? It didn’t quite fit all of her odd behaviors, for certain, but it also had some actual potential of truth. After all, it wouldn’t be the  _first_ time Atem had met someone who could read minds,  _or_ read the future…

“-how did you know to bring that?” he asked, his gaze lingering on the umbrella. “The rain just started. It was not even cloudy when I left.”

“…” Jeu’s unwavering stare broke with a confused blink before she followed his glance up. Something that might have been a smile grimaced at her lips, folded back from open expression before she met his glance again, the remains of a soggy humor still there in her voice. “I had the radio on when Mana came by to say you had disappeared. There was a storm warning on.” Despite the ringing tension between them, the girl actually  _grinned_ at the embarrassment that must have been shining on Atem's face for the mundane explanation…

But whatever amusement clung to her eyes ebbed away as her focus slid over his shoulder. “And, it wasn’t a stretch to guess where you were going.” Atem’s fuddled suspicions and abashment washed away as he frowned and turned around to see what she was looking at. And he realized the answer with the suddenness of a sharp smack to the gut, stealing his breath as he stared down the street. He hadn’t been watching where he was going, but one word from Jeu and he awoke to what had been before him all along. They were just across the street from the entrance to the palace ruins… Perhaps no more than a few steps away from where Jeu had parked when they first visited, days and days ago. 

“…I didn't mean to come here,” Atem said as he stared at the gated entrance, his own words coming back to him muddled, as if through a fog. Could it truly be a coincidence? Or had his feet steered him there, remembered the way even where his mind did not? 

He didn’t know, and soon dismissed the mystery in favor of leveling a look back on Jeu, keeping his expression flat to cover his own thrown confusion. “Why are _you_ here?”

“We were worried about you.” Her answer was little more than a mumble, and Atem could only clench his jaw against unformed words, his still unset opinion of her leaving him stuck, too wary to brush her off... Too wary to simply accept. For her part, Jeu threw a passing look to the distant palace before slowly holding her arm up straighter in a clear, silent gesture of offering him the umbrella.

Atem still didn't take it, hesitant to leave her out in the rain  _or_ get too close to her. Before long Jeu squeezed her eyes with a sigh, and leveled a set stare of her own on  _him_. “Atem, I would have talked to you back at the house, about what happened? But I didn't know what to say, because... You were right.” Atem's breath caught in his throat as his eyes widened, struck mute in the face of the unexpected admission. “I  _wasn't_ playing honestly. Not because I wasn't taking you seriously, or don't like the cards I used-” she insisted with a sudden searching gaze, only for her dark eyes to drop back to the wet pavement between their feet. “But I haven't let myself play Duel Monsters in a long time. Not for myself. Just, to test new cards, or help Mana practice, no serious duels.  That's why... I  _did_ build the deck I dueled you with but, no... It isn't  _the_ deck, I would build for myself, if I truly tried...”

Atem stared at Jeu's down-turned face, caught by the frustrated, pained expression that passed over her features. The look reminded him of those endless ‘I can’t say’s she and Shadi had thrown at him that first day, and Atem mumbled “You clearly have the game itself mastered” as he struggled to process her claim. If she was telling the truth, she wasn't  _trying_  to hide from him. She might have left out why she didn’t play the game as she should, but Atem found he couldn’t see any shadow of malignancy in her… Not then.

His answer prompted her to look up again, and Atem strove on with “If you  _do_  ever want to make that deck, I would be happy to duel with you, properly. But...” only to trail off into nothing. He didn't want to repeat what he had said by the pool, but it was still true. He didn't want a false duel.

He was afraid Jeu would be angry or evasive or hurt by his conditioned offer, but the conflict only cleared from her eyes, leaving a weary but quiet air about the girl as she nodded. “I’d like that…” But Atem sensed somehow that it wasn’t the same as her last acceptance… Whatever her meaning, he didn’t expect to truly get a rematch.

The following silence felt lighter, easier to breathe in, and Jeu managed to break it before it grew troubled again, much of her previous hesitance gone as she nodded in gesture. “-so, you don’t want to go in?”

Following her gaze back behind him, Atem stared uncertainly at the guarded entrance of the palace complex. “I don’t have any reason to.” He had not intended to end up there at all, should turn around and go back. It was dark, wet, his friends were likely worried, and he had already seen the place in sunlight and found it a dark experience.

And yet his feet remained pinned to the pavement, unable to take a single step away.

“So, no?”

Atem let her question linger until he finally turned, without a word, and walked out into the rain towards the palace, Jeu and her umbrella quick on his heels.

As they crossed the street, gained entrance from the night guard, and passed through the gates Atem was struck by an odd feeling, like a long missed puzzle piece snapping into place. It was something like what he had felt back in the Domino Museum with Anzu, months and months ago, when he had met Isis and seen the first proof of his past. A sense of, not comfort or ease exactly, but of a constant lingering confusion dissipating.

It was strange; he hadn’t felt it when they came through the site the first time… But, perhaps his suspicions and grief and confusion had distracted him too much to notice then. Last time, he had slid through the palace in a pained, surreal fog, not wanting to focus on any signs of his misplacement in the present world. But, looking around him through the haze of the rain, Atem found himself actively searching for familiarity with the sights, for some sign of guidance that might lead him out of the confused passivity he had fallen into in the past couple weeks.  _Something_ to move forward with.

But whatever had drawn him to the site was in no hurry to reveal itself, and he was left standing in a broken courtyard with Jeu, no more than a few yards from the entrance. Lost for direction or focus, Atem looked about listlessly, eyes settling on a pair of identical statues bookmarking a pylon, their features shadowed ominously in the dark… One’s face completely destroyed.

“-it’s Ramses the Second, from a couple centuries before your time,” Jeu supplied, stepping up beside him. She set the umbrella over them both, and that time Atem felt no urge to draw away from her or its protection, turning a questioning look on the girl instead.

“How do you know that?”

“I’ve spent a long time studying these ruins- And not just checking out the underground chamber, or things obviously linked to you,” she explained, and by the dim light of the stars and the distant life of the city Atem could see the bare traces of a wry smile forming on her lips. “It was weird, knowing so much of the future, for so long. Investigating the past, though, I could learn things actually  _new_  to me.”

“…I feel like I should know this, too.” Atem focused back on the statues, the words tumbling out of him before he stopped to think about it. He was too relieved for the outlet to care what the consequences might be. “Who these statues are of, what the writings here say, what happened here. I can feel it, that I knew it all once… But it’s gone.” Stepping forward, Atem traced his fingers  over the wet, rough engravings at the base of one statue, as though he might read them in the dark like Braille.

Nothing registered as coherent or familiar, though, and when Jeu hesitantly closed the distance between them again to speak he let his hand drop, too expectant of the failure to feel real disappointment.

“The gaps in your memories… Do they bother you?”

He turned about, considered the girl and her watchful stare that said she all but knew the answer. She didn’t ask to know- She asked for _him_.

It was exactly the sort of thing he knew he shouldn't do with her, the very thing he dodged her and her concern in the market place over. But… Perhaps it was his worn resistance, or the guilt he felt over his behavior earlier, or the same undecipherable thing about her that had drawn him to her in the first place, but Atem couldn't bring himself to walk away, or stop himself from answering her question. "They didn't before… I was happy with what I found in the game world the other Bakura created. My name, who my father was, my old friends and what happened to us." It had seemed so real, felt so right, and by the end Atem had even recalled the 'true' last days of his life, as the Puzzle had not shown him… Or at least, knew where the discrepancies lay. Everything else remained lost in shadows, but he had thought it enough.

“But, that was before this enemy– An enemy I don’t even remember making. I need to know  _who he is_.” Atem emphasized as he glared up at the proper, broken entrance of his palace, his fingers clenching at his side. “The former me, the one who ruled a country from that place, must know who ‘The Devourer’ was…” And that knowledge just emphasized the difference between Atem as he stood there, and that ghost. Twelve, thirteen days ago he had seen himself  _as_ that ghost, assumed that his memories would only truly come in the afterlife, and it just proved how he could not truly exist as himself, there in the living world.

But he  _needed_  those memories there and then, and the fact they would not come to him? His link to the present still felt tenuous, unhinged but... Seeing his link to the  _past_ so weak, as well… Atem forced his hands to relax and released his held breath, the sound reeking of resignation. “My life then doesn’t feel quite real, with these gaps. It’s as if those days are being hidden from me, even now. I know that I was ‘Atem’ but…  _Who_   _was_ _‘Atem’_?”

“I don’t know,” Jeu said, the answer sounding more like an apology than a confession. Atem turned back to her, a humorless wonder in his eyes to hear the ever-knowing girl admit ignorance on something. “And I don’t know how you can get those memories back. But, if it matters, there are some things you can relearn with or without them. Like the language, and writings? I have books you could use, I bet you’d pick it up really fast given…”

She hesitated for a long moment, her lips working slowly around one syllable as Atem looked on, half-expecting her to fall into silence, or another of her refusals to share. Instead, she  _did_ divulge her thoughts, her gaze sliding pensively over the shadowed symbols on the statue base. “…I started studying it when I was a kid. It scared me how fast I picked up the language,  _way_ faster than when I tried with Arabic. Especially the hieroglyphics around here, they came to me near instantly. ...it wasn't natural.”

Atem could hear something of disturbance in her voice, even then, years after the apparent fact. But her wide-eyed gaze was steady when she focused back to him, and he was far too keen to listen, to know the strange girl's thoughts to even think of interrupting. “I decided it meant that I was supposed to help you, when the time came. That I must have been given this knowledge to  _do_ something with it... But there's nothing.” The earnest strength in her voice died away, and as she looked off into the wet shadows, Atem was struck suddenly with how truly exhausted Jeu looked. “I've spent days going over everything I studied before, now that we know about this 'game' Shadi mentioned but... I’ve been staring at photos of the writings in the chamber and the palace proper day in and day out, but nothing. I can't find anything about it, or 'The Devourer' that we didn't already know. There's just nothing there.”

-was that why she had been hiding herself in her office for the last fortnight? Certainly Atem had suspected, but where he had anticipated uncovering some discovered, closeted secret, he found a girl weary and desperately hunting with no reward at sight. The revelation spliced with the memory of his earlier paranoia, and stuck in his throat like a barb.

“...why are you trying so hard?”

Confusion soaked the weary numbness on Jeu’s face as she looked back at him. Only after they stared at each other for a long breath, the sincerity of Atem’s perplexity undeniable, did Jeu speak again, a frown tugging at her lips and warm steel in her eyes. “…I said I was going to help you, and  _I will_. I have spent  _too long_  waiting for this day, standing by, watching things happen I never wanted to see… That I wanted to stop from ever happening at all, but I-” Jeu trailed off, her focus dropping in a fruitless inner search of her own thoughts. The girl’s resolve was shattering again, collapsing and cutting her as she fell into the dark along with it, right before Atem’s eyes.

“-you have helped me.” It was as natural as breathing to speak, to draw the girl’s attention back to him. One moment they were a good two feet apart, the umbrella Jeu held barely protecting them both, the next Atem moved closer. Reached out, let his fingers catch in violet fabric as he clutched Jeu’s arm through her jacket. He didn’t have to think it through, the gesture felt too essential to doubt, and allowed some of the tension to seep out of his own bones. It was Jeu who gave it any mind at all, the wary hope in her eyes shot with a bewilderment that practically  _buzzed_ off of her skin as her breath caught audibly in her throat, the sound of it nearly drowned out by the rain.

But Atem… His suspicions were all but laid to rest and his shame for ever having them to begin with was overshadowed by the impulse to reach out, to  _fix_. A smile played at his lips, the small twitch carrying the full weight of truth, and his gratitude. “You’ve been doing nothing but help since I met you. You gave me back my hope. Hope of finding  _aibou_ … Of facing this enemy and winning, and seeing him alive and happy and  _safe_  again, before I go.”

“Before you go…” Jeu said, her echo dissipating into the moist air around them, his own meaning hanging there, heavier by the second, until its weight suffocated the strange wonder that had lingered in the girl’s face. She tensed. He could feel it in the thin arm he still held. He released it as he sensed Jeu’s mood shift in a new direction, one he could not name however he scoured her expression. It wasn’t quite distress again, but… Melancholia? Resignation? “You think, even with the ceremony messed up like that... You’re still meant to leave?”

“Aren’t I?” He asked back, the very question threatening to thump his heart against his ribs. But that was a trap of desire and regret and hope and inevitability he knew well, had dealt with for months. It held no power over him anymore. “The prophecy is still in place, isn’t it? I’m meant to ‘lay down my sword’ and ‘find peace’?”

“…I suppose it is,” she murmured, her eyes still pinned to the wet sands, head dropped forward so low her damp hair fell in her face, hiding it. But he could still _hear_  what a burden it was for her, to agree. It struck him, left him uncertain and wondering why the suggestion left her so tense. So pensive.

But she offered nothing else, and let the silence hang until Atem allowed his own gaze to trail down, linger on his ‘own’ hand as he raised it, flexed the fingers, considered the sensation as he clenched and locked the joints. “And this is still _his_ body. When I find him, I need to give it back to him… It’s his body, his life to live.” He let the words fall from his lips with the careless insistence of a memorized pledge. But still it felt as though the words bounced off of Jeu and came back at  _him_ , were being said  _to_ him, hitting  _him_  with their own strength… He couldn’t help but flash back to their earlier duel, when Jeu had played that Mirror Force.

“And he is strong enough now, to face it alone… Always  _was_  strong enough,” Atem corrected himself, suddenly stumbling, catching himself in what he was saying with the shock of hitting a rock in the midst of a smooth bike ride, hiccuping over the speed bump and suddenly wondering, what was he doing? Why was he saying those things? Should he really go on? He did not doubt a single word that he said, did not  _truly_ resent the truth… Not  _really_.

He shut his eyes with a forced, but still successful poise, went on with the determination of swallowing some foul medicine. Bitter, even painful… But necessary. “He doesn’t need me, or my protection anymore.”

“Doesn’t- That’s not  _true_!”

Atem’s eyes burst open at the vehemence of that cry slamming into him, and the look on Jeu’s face stole what was left of his breath. Her head was back up, her dark eyes sparking, glinting with the same force that marked her voice and made her seem so much larger than she was… So much _more_ , something to be reckoned with, to be heeded, powered only by the insistence of her protest. Those eyes caught some nonexistent light and reflected back a color Atem could not quite comprehend before Jeu clenched them shut, rubbed her fingers over her eyes with a frustrated, impatient “Sorry, but… It _can’t_ be true…” before trailing into nothing.

He should have answered. He should have given his own argument, because he had meant what he had said. Not only that, it had been  _difficult_ to say it to begin with, the truth of his confessions all the more tender and raw for the fact he didn’t have his pride in his partner to fall back on, as he had in the ceremony.

But… He couldn’t quite do it. He knew, without a doubt, that  _Jeu_ meant what she said, too, and some traitorous part of him left him standing there, unblinking, heart clenching as her fingers slowly lowered and she pinned him again with that adamant gaze of hers.

“Do you really think that that’s all you’re worth? Your strength and protection?” Jeu asked, as quiet as she was agitated. Atem’s voice wasn’t working, and his acknowledgement remained unsaid, unmourned in the face of Jeu’s seeking insistence. “I don’t need  _any_ insight to see what you mean to… To, everyone,” she stumbled, but did not stop, tumbling on with a bizarre desperation in her eye, as if afraid she would lose the chance to speak if she stopped to so much as breathe. “You’re not only a protector, or a king, or  _savior_ or _support_ or even a friend. You… You’re special, Atem, in ways that have nothing to do with your crown or dueling or power…”

At some point, Jeu had stopped bothering to hold up the umbrella, and it hung at her side as the rain carried on over their heads. But Atem barely noticed, his attention fixed on the girl, half-mesmerized by the way her harried rush had given way to something steady, confident, and warm as she looked at him, the tint of pain underlying her smile only heightening the effect. He was dizzy, his chest burning, his fingers numb at the tips. It hurt. He didn’t understand… But he couldn’t look away.

“You’re you… And, if you do have to leave, then you’re right… They’ll be fine…  _Yuugi_  will be fine… They’ll go on. Be strong, happy, grateful… But that doesn’t mean, that they aren’t losing something precious, when they let you go… Something they know they can never get back. Something they will, miss…” She couldn’t go on. It was obvious in her face, the misery pounding closer and closer on the heel of her every word until it devoured her reassurances whole. Jeu visibly swallowed and looked off into the rain, freeing Atem from the trap of her stare. And yet, he kept on looking, numbly, raggedly wondering over the sound of his own pulse in his ear, if that was just the rain staining her face… Or if Jeu was truly crying.

“Don’t sell yourself so short… The place you hold in their hearts… Is not so small…”

The rain kept screaming between them, soaking them both, standing there in the darkness.

“Jeu?” Atem finally managed, hating how his voice cracked, sounded so lost. She didn’t look at him, let her eyes fall slowly, wearily shut at the sound of her own name, but Atem couldn’t stop. The urge to reach out again was so strong, and as the muscles in his arms refused to work, all he could do was call, question, drop the confusion and wonder and hope and despair and strange, strange yearning she had conjured back at her feet. “Why are you... Where is this-”

A light came on and flooded the area with an audible  _snap_.

Atem flinched against the sudden assault, cracking his eyes to mere glaring slits as he looked about, seeking the source. The light hadn’t _actually_ come from all about, as he had thought, but from a glaring lamp over the security gate back at the entrance. A security gate that was being _shut and locked_ by a guard in a blue uniform, his back to them as he turned a key by the light of a flashlight in his other hand.

“-hey!” Atem called, thinking to catch the man who, logic dictated, might have simply forgotten they were still inside the complex. But the man didn’t even look back at them, turning and making a mad sprint off to the left, towards a series of lesser ruins.

Atem didn’t even think, dashing instantly forward in his rush to close the distance between them. Every second lost could cost them their means of getting  _out_ , and uncovering what in the world the guard was doing!

He hadn’t stopped to check if Jeu followed him, but he suddenly found her there at his side, panting far harsher than he as they stalled just around the corner of a pylon wall, the expanse of broken structures and rubble before them seemingly undisturbed. But before Atem could recover his breath enough to speak, something flickered from within a nearby, small, half-intact building… The light almost certainly the guard’s flashlight, revealed through the cracks in the building’s walls.

Atem swallowed and struggled to clear his head enough to  _think_ , to turn and face Jeu. “I’m going to check it out.”

“Not without me you’re not,” she whispered back, her matter-of-factness making Atem stumble, but only for a moment.

“There’s no sense in both of us going in. Keep an eye from here, just-”

“Look,” she interrupted on a choked breath, and he turned back about to discover that the light was gone.

There was nothing there anymore, and the longer they stared, the more dread tickled at Atem's senses, the hair rising on the back of his neck for reasons he could not fully name. It wasn’t so shocking… Perhaps the guard had just turned the light off to better hide, thinking they hadn’t noticed it. That they would pass by and not cross his path at all. But… something in his gut gave a resounding  _no_.

Sharing a tense glance with his company, Atem slowly worked his way forward, coming up to the very edge of the structure’s doorway before putting up an arm to signal Jeu should stay behind him as he squinted into the darkness, striving to make out any shape or sign of danger.

Jeu’s shocked cry was the only warning Atem got before he was pushed, or rather  _kicked_  from behind, landing face first in a stinging tumble inside the doorway of the building. He remained there, frozen where he fell, for a couple dizzy seconds before he struggled to stand, to roll and look back amid the alarming sounds of Jeu yelling, and then quieting into a smothered nothing.

“Jeu–!” he called around the sand in his mouth, only to feel a weight slam into his stomach the moment he managed to turn over, smacking him back into the sands. His head and neck screamed from the impact, but still Atem struggled, his efforts turning furious when he realized that the weight was someone  _sitting on him_ , holding his hands pinned to the wet sands with their legs. “What ar–” A cloth was suddenly there, suffocating his words as it covered his nose and mouth. The smell coming off of it was unmistakable, and Atem opened wild, red eyes and glared upwards in a mad search of who was  _doing this_.

The last thing he saw before the world hazed into nothing were soulless, black eyes.


	14. Chapter 14

His eyes were buzzing- No, no that was his head. His eyes were just struggling to open. Even before his mind was alert enough to remember _why_ , a part of him knew that it was _desperately important_ for him to wake up. The impulse alone dragged his scattered mind up out of the languid, hazy fog that had been as much relief as suffering… And in the brief in-between of unconsciousness and awareness, Atem thought of the Puzzle. The shattered darkness.

“… What…” His mouth tasted awful. He coughed, spit blindly off to the side in an effort to clear away the grainy bitterness clinging to his tongue.

“Ow-”

He stalled mid-wiping his mouth on his still-soaked jacket sleeve, trying to place that voice. Jeu- It was Jeu. Craning to sit up, Atem fell backwards again with a grunt when an unexpected pain shot up his back and shoulders.

“Atem, are you... Where are we?”

“I don’t know.” He tried moving again, and rolled as quickly as he could to his side as he looked up and about. It wasn’t quite pitch black thanks to some dim light peeking in through cracks and holes in an unfamiliar ceiling. But there were no windows, and he could just make out a long, seemingly endless hall of collapsing walls… On the other side of what could only be prison bars.

Silence hung in the air like a spoken word as Atem slowly rose to his feet - a movement to his side alerting him to Jeu doing the same - and moved closer to the bars, feeling along the cold metal beams until he realized old stone surrounded a wide, barred door. He shook it harshly in one quick, testing motion.

It didn’t given an inch.

“...we’re trapped,” he said, the truth echoing brittle and cold in his own ear as he let go again, pressing himself up to the bars to peer into the darkness as Jeu spoke behind him.

“And my cell phone is gone. Who could have… I know it was that guard who grabbed me, and kicked you, but I didn’t get a proper look. I was out so fast, and he was shadowed in the security station when we came into the palace. I didn’t even think to look at him closely… Do you know how we got here?”

“Not really,” he answered, giving up his hunt for clues in the shadows and turning around to face the nearly invisible girl. “He knocked me out, too… And going by how my back feels, I was dragged here by my arms.” And he didn’t bother hurting himself further by reaching back to check, but he would bet his deck that Yuugi’s jacket was torn up on the back, where it had scraped on stone as well as sand as Atem was dragged into their unexpected prison.

“…that sounds about right,” she murmured, and Atem didn’t have to see properly to know that Jeu was rubbing her own shoulders.

Silence fell again as they stood there, mute, both tense with their effort to take the situation in stride. But however logical they tried to be, the truth of their predicament? The danger they were likely in seeped through to their bones like the lingering rain water through their torn clothes. And after only a few moments of quiet, accompanied by the distant echo of rain, Jeu tentatively spoke up.

“Atem? I can’t be sure. I never saw it… But I think this is the old palace’s dungeon.”

“I think so, too,” he acknowledged as he clenched his fingers, flexed them, clenched them at his side, pressing his anxiety into the movement to keep it from his mind and voice. “But, how can it be so intact? And these bars- They have to be new. Why would someone renovate this place?”

“Why, in preparation for you.”

Atem sucked in air through his nose and held it, stock still, at the intrusion of a _third_ , unknown voice. The voice of a man, calm, even, smooth as silk. It left his ear aching to catch _more_ even as it made his skin crawl.

Before he could fully comprehend it there was a click, and a proper light shone in the space. An electric lantern had been turned on in the hall beyond the door, not far from the prison door. And reclined against the wall beside it was the shadowed figure of the speaker. He rose in unhurried movements and walked around the light, coming into proper view with his hands clasped behind his back.

“-Tariq Banoub?”

Atem turned at Jeu’s breathless naming, the confused shock on her face prompting him to look back and reconsider the named stranger. “You know him?”

“Yes, he’s- He’s an archaeologist who helps preserve the palace. I met him years ago. He… He’s part of the team I asked to…” But Jeu was stumbling too much to finish what she was saying, a slow but undeniable terror sliding into her gaze as she stepped closer to the door, stalling at Atem’s side. “The Items… Banoub, what have you done?”

 _The Items_? The calm Atem reached for cracked as his mind struggled to take in what Jeu meant. She had… She had had the destroyed chamber excavated, hadn’t she? To try and find the lost Items. Atem had never heard anything else about it, assuming it was still in progress.

Apparently not.

Atem’s hand was clenching one of the bars again before he consciously considered the action, supporting his pull forward into a forceful stance as he glared at their captor. “What do you want with us? _Do_ you have the Items? Are you connected to _Him_?”

Banoub let Atem's interrogation slide passed him like wind, offering little more than an empty, nauseatingly unmoved smile in answer. He seemed so ordinary... He looked like any other resident of Luxor. Straight hair fell in his face, so dark a green it was nearly black, and his blue uniform surrounded him in an authoritative, yet mundane air. And yet the way Atem's blood froze at that smile was all he needed to know, he was _right_.

Rather than breaking the silence with words, Banoub stepped closer, not even breaking his stride as he reached into one of the wide cracks in the stone walls and pulled out two hefty, familiar objects.

Duel disks.

It wouldn't be accurate to call what Atem felt 'shock'. The moment the equipment came into view the once king's glare only solidified with expectation, a wordless reaction sliding through his own thoughts that could easily be summed up as 'of course' as Banoub stalled before the bars and finally spoke again.

“If you want me to let you out of that cell, you will have to duel, and win. Do you agree?”

“I don't see how I have a choice,” Atem ground out.

But Banoub did not hand the duel disk to him. Instead, he shook his head with an air of amused impatience. “ _No_ , little king. You _do_ have a choice. You can refuse, stay here, and take your chances on some miracle, pray I haven’t cut off any chance of rescue... Or you can accept, risk failure, and win your freedom for yourself.” The man's eyes narrowed and flashed with an unnatural light, some cackling, triumphant emotion in its depths making Atem's stomach twist. “So... _Choose_.”

“...Atem-” Jeu breathed just behind him, trepidation screaming in her whisper. But he didn't need to look back at her face or hear her unsaid warning to understand her. He knew. He heard the poisonous glee in that demand. It was a trap... Somehow, it was a trap, even when they were already caught.

But... This was it. _This_ was the calamity he had been expecting for weeks, had been almost actively hoping for in favor of the lost unknowns of the quiet days in the apartment, with grains of sand falling one after another into the abyss that was the Seventh of October. And even as he saw the error of ever hoping for _this_... Atem recognized it for what it was. A path finally set before him. A path of thin ice and quick sand and roaring fire and churning darkness... The path he had been waiting for all along.

The path that led, somehow, in some way, back to his partner.

He put out his hand to the devil.

“I accept.”

Banoub's smile didn't shift at all, looking for all appearances like Atem’s agreement had been a foregone conclusion, and bypassed Atem's outstretched hand to toss the duel disks through the bars to land at their feet… _Both_ duel disks. Atem stared at them uncomprehendingly until Banoub reached into another crevice, a crack in the floor just a yard or so from the cell, and pulled out a _third_ disk.

“-no,” Atem said, stumbling into the denial but gaining steam fast, glaring fire at the 'guard' even as Banoub didn't react, clipping the disk onto his arm without a single glance up. “Only _I_ agreed, why are you giving us _both_ -”

“It's alright.” Atem choked on his protests, clenched his teeth, and turned to find Jeu reaching down to take one of the duel disks. “I still have my deck from our duel.”

He couldn't bring himself to mirror the strained smile she offered him, his ire collapsing into earnest, stifled worry as he whispered to her. “You shouldn't play with that deck. You’ll be at a disadvantage, and who knows what Banoub is planning.”

“Atem, didn’t you once play with a deck that wasn’t your own? That belonged to… Yuugi’s grandfather?” Jeu asked, the insistence behind her question faltering with the naming. But she recovered it just as quickly, meeting his gaze with a furrowed crease between her large, narrowed eyes. “That deck did not represent your own heart… But you won with it, all the same.”

“That was different,” he insisted, even as he heard himself floundering where he should be stubborn. “I didn’t even build that deck, but it had grandp- … _aibou_ ’s grandfather’s feelings were bound up in those cards. _That_ made them strong.”

“ _Exactly_. You managed to conjure the strength of his will through his cards, even without him there. Won with cards not meant for _you_ , because of the strength behind them,” she insisted, the determination flattening her mouth into a line softening again as she slid into sheer, beseeching appeal. “I want to help you… If I duel with these cards, wrong for me or not, shouldn't that be enough?”  
  
Atem stared at her, knowing he must be openly showing his dumbstruck wonder and conflict, but unable to wipe it from his face as he quietly answered. “…alright…” He just couldn't help it, or explain the strange feeling filling him. Suddenly it felt a little easier to breathe, even as dread ran in his veins at the idea of dragging her into that fight. There was nothing for it, and he forced his attention off of the relief shining on Jeu's face as he picked up the last duel disk. “-I’m trusting you.”

“Thank you.”

“That's very sweet,” Banoub said, drawing Atem and Jeu's wary gazes back to him, but there was nothing to see save that same laughing, frozen grin. “But before we begin- I think you should check your own cards, little king.”

Atem stared, frozen, a ball welling up in his throat that ached and was impossible to swallow or speak around. But, slowly, reluctant to break his watch on that sickening smile, he looked down at the cards he had taken from their holster, fanning out the lot of them in his hand. The familiar monsters and spells and traps all looked the same, undamaged, untampered with... And yet something _did_ gnaw at him as he stared and found nothing wanting in what he saw. And as his suspicions shifted to what _wasn’t_ there, Atem realized why.

“...the God Cards...”

He heard Jeu's sharp intake at his whisper, but whatever she said was lost in the ringing in his ears as he raised his wide gaze from his cards back to the man beyond the bars. “What have you- You _took them_?!”

Nothing. Banoub just looked at him- Almost seemed to look _through_ him, and Atem snapped again. “Answer me!”

“-shall we begin?” Banoub asked, sliding over Atem's demands without so much as a flinch as he raised his duel disk before him and activated it. “4000 life points each, none of us attack on the first draw. I will take the first turn.”

Atem kept staring, kept glaring, but there was nothing for it, and a tense side glance at Jeu and her frozen, troubled expression highlighted the truth all too well. They were in no position to be making demands. Atem didn't know why they were getting a chance at winning their freedom back, how the 'guard' knew who the pharaoh was, or why he had trapped them in the first place. But even knowing it was likely futile, he couldn't help but pose one last question as he put his stripped deck into his duel disk. “...this doesn't make sense. Why would you want to duel the two of us together on your own? Alone?”

“Oh... I am never alone.”

The unexpected reply was a mere whisper in the dark, and Atem tensed in expectation of seeing someone else emerge out of the shadows beyond the lantern. But no one else approached them... Not from the hallway.

At first he thought it was nothing but a trick of a light, how Banoub's black eyes faded into empty, bottomless gray, as though the darkness was draining right out of him. The following seconds put potential truth to the impression as a flicker beyond the stranger's form caught Atem's attention, prompting him to focus blindly over Banoub's shoulder... Only to jolt back in flabbergasted shock in time with Jeu's choked “What--?!” as the man's shadow rose off of the floor, quivering in its flimsy tangibility before it quickly began to morph, to gain substance even as it drew away from the man that had cast it, shifting to stand at Banoub's side instead of at his heel.

- _The Wicked Avatar_?!

The comparison was inevitable. The shadow stood as a smoky, black copy of the archeologist. But as Atem stumbled for clarity amid his shock the differences were all too quick to show themselves. For the copy was no summoned monster, but an exact replica of their keeper, right down to the duel disk that looked to be perfectly functional despite its blacked out coloring.

Atem heard a strange, choked whimper and looked back at the original, Banoub’s eyes – now a bright, healthy orange – were near completely dilated with clear, paralyzed terror... And when Atem slowly looked back at the shadow Banoub had cast, it opened its own eyes to reveal narrow, freezing cold ice blue orbs.

That hated smile curled at the lips of the dark double.

“ _This_... is a Duel of Sacrifice and Shade, _little king_.”

“Please,” cut in the true Banoub before Atem could hope to find his own voice and respond or question, the archeologist’s deep voice choked and strangled and high where the shadow’s remained as smooth and languid. For a brief, horrid moment, Atem's stomach twisted threateningly at the broken desperation on the man's face as he looked at his doppelganger. “Don't make me- I'm so _tired_ -”

The shadow, or _shade_ as it may well be given the thing’s words, turned to look at its near-crying double and stared, unblinking, eyes going wide and pupils appearing where there had been none before. But the pupils were wrong, somehow, long and thin, and they flashed white within the pale blue. Looking into made Atem's own head go foggy and he made himself blink, catching a breath he didn't remember losing as he looked away. He shared a quick, alarmed, lost look with Jeu before daring to look back at their enemies again, only to find that the true Banoub was completely, unnaturally taciturn. He was staring at his duel disk and wouldn’t look up. Not when Atem stared at him, and not when his blacked out double spoke.

“Now then... I believe I said _I_ would have the first turn?”

“-you aren't Banoub,” Jeu protested, her glower as baffled as it was accusing. “What are you? What have you done to B-”

But she didn't get to finish, quickly stumbling into tense silence as they were all plunged into darkness- Only to get pulled instantly back out by the sudden burst of numerous, tiny little lights.

Atem jumped instinctively back from the closest ones, only to stall as he registered what the lights actually were. Candles... Dozens of candles, gathered in four, distinctive groups before each of their feet. And in each group, there were two different kinds of candles lined up side by side. Two rows of white candles with white flames... And two rows of black candles with black flames. And it took no more than a few seconds amid Banoub's whimpers for Atem to count them, and feel his stomach turn to lead at the obvious conclusion.

40 candles... 4000 life points...

“What are these for?”

The flat, dark question might have been half-rhetorical, but Atem still pinned his focus on the shade as he awaited an answer, clenching his teeth all the harder when he, it, whatever it was merely grinned at him, evading once more.

“Ah, trust me, it's so much better to _show_ than tell.”

“-and what if I don't let you?” Atem asked as he tensed his facial muscles into a black smirk, the better to hide the fact that he was bluffing. “We haven't activated our disks yet... What if we just refuse to duel, after all, and decide to wait for help?”

“...you think you can still back out?” The shade's chuckle bounced sickeningly off of the walls amid the stale, dead air. He played one monster in face-down defense position, set three more, and pinned Atem with that smile of his and spoke again only when he was clearly done with his first turn. “Look around you.”

Focusing warily beyond the mysterious enemy, Atem went still as he realized that the world around them, on both sides of the bars, had faded into a gray nothing. The shadows and even the lantern had disappeared into a haze, explaining how the only light remaining came from the one hundred-and-sixty candles that burned at their feet.

It was... It was just like what he had seen when Yuugi had disappeared... and in his nightmares...

“Atem-” Jeu's voice cut through the fog of his own mind, drawing his dazed maroon eyes to her with a focusing blink, only to find her just a tense as he, but her mouth and brow set with a determination that stay steady as she looked to the false Banoub. “So it's a tag duel... What's considered a win?”

“Surviving as a unit, of course. If one of us loses, we take our partner out with us,” the shadow answered, his constant small grin sliding into a full, undeniable leer as his gaze drifted lazily between the two captives. “Though... The cost of that loss may… _vary_.”

For once, neither posed a question to the obvious jab. Both knew, as Atem could tell from a single shared glance with the girl, that the shadow would not explain himself.

Not when he could make them learn his meaning first hand.

* * *

“I sacrifice my Familiar-Possessed Aussa to summon Granmarg the Rock Monarch, using its effect to destroy the... the, 'dark' Banoub's face down monster.”

Atem couldn't blame Jeu for the stumble, as he himself still wasn't certain what to call that shadow who took his destroyed card - Stone Statue of the Aztecs, as it turned out - off of the field and put it in his graveyard.

Atem had deduced in the first few turns, played at a virtual stalemate of summons and destruction without any damage to actual life points, that the God Cards must not be in either 'man's' deck. Perhaps it was presumptuous to assume, but the once pharaoh had studied those cards backwards and forwards in his effort to incorporate them into his own deck. There was nothing about the playing style of Banoub and his shadow – who seemed to share the exact same deck, given their similar plays of rock monsters and destruction spells – that sung of an effort to bring any of the three gods into play.

That didn't mean they weren't dangerous, though, even without a single god card. Even the archaeologist, who played with shaking hands and terrified eyes and answered none of their questions when they posed them, was proving problematic, managing to clear the field twice with Dark Hole and Torrential Tribute, taking out Atem's Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight with the latter in the previous turn.

But Banoub's luck was apparently running out. Jeu turned her uncertain frown on him.

“Battle… I attack Banoub's Gigantes with Granmarg.”

The man was shaking, and moved as if to play his set card before the attack could connect. But his hand froze before he could flip it. Banoub grit his teeth as if in pain and looked beseechingly to his black copy, who simply stared back with those empty eyes of his.

Was... was the shadow talking to Banoub in his mind? Or actually _controlling_ his actions?

Before Atem could breech the topic, Banoub's monster shattered into pieces. As his first five white candle lights snuffed out Banoub's loud breaths hitched strangely. He dropped his cards and reached up to clutch his shoulder in obvious pain as he began to buckle over.

“N-no...”

“Get up,” the shade hissed without looking at his apparent host, or puppet, or whatever he was to him… And where Jeu remained frozen in shock, Atem broke out of his enough to snap at him.

“What is happening to him? What have you done?!”

“What have _I_ done?” the shade asked, some amusement sliding back into his blank blue eyes as he dismissed the rising Banoub to focus on Atem. “I wasn't the one who attacked him.”

Jeu didn't respond to the obvious jab, but Atem could see it had struck her all the same. After a long, hesitant moment of looking at her already summoned Injection Fairy Lily, she announced her play with a couple movements and quiet words. “I set one card, and end my turn...”

Atem didn't say anything, or even glance at her too openly, but he still felt a stab of empathy for the girl. She could have taken out Banoub's other monster, Sand Moth, with Injection Lily Fairy's effect, but she had not. He knew that it would have been a risky move– She would have to use up 2000 of her own life points to pull it off, but he knew without asking that she wouldn't have made the move, even without the cost. To put Banoub, as apparently unwilling in this fight as they were, through such pain... They would both do better to focus as much as possible on the _shadow_ version of the archaeologist.

But as Atem acknowledged that fact the shadow took his own turn. Looking at what he had drawn, he gave a short, two-note chuckle before announcing his play. “I remove eight rock monsters in my graveyard from play to special summon Megarock Dragon.” The fogged, isolated space felt like it truly vibrated beneath the stomp of the gigantic, dinosaur-esque monster that appeared beyond the bars, its eyes and very body giving off a horrid red glow as it roared in their faces. “And it collects 700 attack points for every monster put out of play to summon it. That would make its attack… 5600.”

_5600?!_

And Atem didn't have any monsters out due to the earlier destruction cards played! Still... Still, he could handle it. Strength wasn't everything. He still had Mirror Force set.

But as he prepared himself to play the trap, and potentially face something blocking its activation, the shade focused on _Jeu_ , his smirk back in place as he proclaimed his move. “Battle- Megarock Dragon, attack Granmarg!” Before Atem could find the breath to- To what? Protest? Yell? _He couldn't do anything_ \- The dragon spit out a red blast. It zipped right through the bars and took out Granmarg.

Jeu had done nothing in the face of her monster’s destruction save tense and cover her eyes with her forearm to block out the bright attack, and for one, brief moment, Atem thought that perhaps she was fine. But slowly, one after another, her candles flickered out. By the tenth one she was shaking, and as the last white flame went out she fell to her knees.

“Jeu!”

“D-don't move!”

Atem hadn't even realized he _was_ moving. But his feet slowly stalled after only a few steps, and he was left staring in frustrated helplessness at the fallen girl, her covered face and staying hand. As the candles finally ceased blowing out – only _eight_ black flames left when the countdown stopped – Jeu rose back to her feet, barely catching herself before she fell again. “I'm, I'm fine! Just... Focus on the duel...” It was a lie. He didn’t have to see her face to know that when it was clear in the way she hunched in on herself. The way her voice echoed with some strange, alarming distance.

And when she finally raised her head and he saw the blood running freely from her nose and eyes, he snapped.

“Why are you doing this?!” The shade didn't even flinch under his screams, but Atem didn't care. He wanted to take that smug, superior face and hold it over his _own_ candles. See if his skin could burn, if those copied, blacked-out clothes of his could catch fire and get a _real bonfire going._ “If you want _me_ dead, why did you drag them into this?! You had me already! Why didn't you just _kill me_?!”

“Fair is fair, little king... And my word is my word,” The damn shadow said, untouched by Atem’s wrath as ever as he slid back into vague references the pharaoh did not understand, his icy eyes marginally widening and his smile turning feral. “I swore I would not shed your blood, and I will not... Unless the clock runs out, or you place my blade to your neck by your _own will_.”

….how could any of that fight be considered by ‘his own will’ when it involved prison bars and threats? Who could that creature be but The Devourer himself, when he spoke like that? If he _was_ The Devourer, and _had_ made such an oath to not touch Atem… Who had he made that promise _to_?

But Atem could not focus on such mysteries. The Devourer's turn was not yet done.

“Shall we finish this, then? Guardian Sphinx, attack Jeu Ravin directly.”

Atem tensed, looking to Jeu with his heart in his throat. Just when he thought that it was truly over, that it was really the end, Jeu played a card from her hand, and Atem found he could breathe again. “I activate Poison of the Old Man, which can either drain my opponent or heal me. I choose the second effect... My life points go up by 1200.” It didn't completely protect her, but as Injection Fairy Lily fell beneath the Guardian Sphinx's attack only one candle went out, the rest preserved.

Just as Atem was about to relax, seeing Jeu scrap through with no more than a wince, though, The Devourer let out a quiet laugh and whispered “Very well, then... I end my battle phase, set one card, and end my turn.”

...that meant it was Atem’s turn. He had only his Mirror Force set, and no monsters on the field. He would have to rely on the five cards he had in his hand, six once he drew, to get them out of there. Keep Jeu in play, and take out The Devourer, if he could.

And the only way he could start, was to face the cost of damage for himself.

“I activate Dark Magic Curtain, paying half of my life points to summon the Dark Magician!”

“Atem-” Jeu could manage no other argument, or had none to begin with, but Atem heard the protest all the same, sensed the concern and alarm even without looking her way. But there was nothing for it- It needed to be done, and he braced himself for the impact-

-and nearly keeled over at the fire that seared through him.

He teetered, hunched forward and in on himself as he fought to control his breathing, and not vomit at the way his very bones balked at the mysterious force that wracked through him. It wasn't the _pain_ \- _That_ was excruciating, but he could have faced that! But... He had not been prepared by how truly _invasive_ it was. How it ate away at his spiritual heart even as it felt like it was punching holes through his literal one. Was his soul being destroyed? ...no, no not destroyed... Battered? Yes, but, it felt like it was... receding too, somehow. Or was being _pushed_... And everything felt so... numb...

“Atem... Atem!”

“Bit off more than you can chew?”

The mingled beseeching and mockery fell naturally on his ear, but were slow to filter through his brain. It took some blurred moments for Atem to raise his head again, feeling woozy, faint. He could taste blood in his mouth, even though it didn't overflow onto his face... _yet_.

“I... I activate Thousand Knives,” he managed, and the motion of setting and activating the card became a focal point to anchor his mind onto. He couldn't quite shake the off-kilter sense that he was somehow not fully _there_ , but his muscles remembered his intended play well enough to move two steps ahead of his trudging mind. “That allows Dark Magician, to instantly destroy one monster, on the field... I choose Megarock Dragon.”

“Y, you can't, though-” Banoub cut in, the interruption drawing Atem's dizzy attention as much as how the archaeologist stumbled, and how he was beginning to _cry_ as he nonetheless turned over a card and announced the card like he was ripping out his own fingernail. “I activate- My Body As a Shield.”

No one spoke as the spell card appeared and blocked the intended destruction, Banoub sobbing as fifteen of his candles burst out with the cost of its activation, Jeu and Atem struggling as much to keep standing as to comprehend why he would sacrifice himself like that. It was finally The Devourer who severed the silence with his false sympathy. “How alarming for all of you. All of your white flames are out. And whether you win, or lose, with _any_ of the black ones out...” He chuckled as if to himself, shaking his head as he smiled with far too wide eyes.

Atem swallowed back any comment that threatened to slide out, assessing the field. All of his own white candles were indeed blown out, as were Banoub's.... And Jeu had lost more than half of her _black_ ones. Atem had long gathered the underlying threat that they would likely _die_ if they lost the duel, but... But what happened, if they won _without_ those black lights?

He didn't want to find out.

“...nice try,” Atem said, playing another card. “But I had _two_ copies in my hand- I play a _second_ Thousand Knives, and take out Megarock Dragon.”

For half a breath Atem expected it to not work again, but the knives flew between the bars and struck the hologram undeterred, taking out the overpowered stone lizard. The shade didn't say anything in response, but Atem didn't stall long enough to investigate, afraid that the pained dizziness in his skull would inhibit him again if he delayed another moment. He gave a sharp wave of his hand that nearly knocked him off of his own feet. “I then equip Dark Magician with Magic Formula, bringing his attack up to 3200. Battle phase- I attack Guardian Sphinx with Dark Magician!”

He would take out The Devourer's last monster, chip away at his life points, set Magic Drain to protect himself and Jeu, and _pray_ that the girl would play a Draining Shield or some other card to recover her lost black candles... And then they would win.

“Call of the Earthbound,” the shadow announced, his smile dark as he played the card. “When my opponent declares an attack, I can choose the target of the attack for myself. And I chose Sand Moth.”

“What?” Atem said, too groggy and thrown to properly cry his bafflement. But Jeu was adamant to at least try to express hers.

“Y, You would have Atem take out... But Banoub will lose-” The two would _both_ lose, as the powered up Dark Magician would take out the monster and every last one of Banoub's life points and candles with it!

Before the shadow could answer, though, the archaeologist gave a loud sob, his hand shaking as he looked from his 'tag partner' to Atem and back in clear, torn confliction. Just a bare instant before the refocused Dark Magician destroyed Sand Moth Banoub turned over his set card and screeched, “I activate Magical Cylinder, which- Which means _you'll_ take Dark Magician's attack yourself!”

“-no!” Jeu screamed, but Atem barely heard her broken cry over the strange buzzing that exploded inside his head. He felt oddly dizzy, like he was sinking. For one, brief moment, he thought ‘this is it’- That the trap had already hit him, blown out all of his candles, and he was dying.

But Jeu's cry was no blind denial.

“I activate Dark Bribe!” the girl yelled, playing her own set card as Banoub stared in horror, dropping his cards even as Jeu stumbled through her play, shaking just as much as the archaeologist. “It negates your trap, and you draw a card. Dark Magician still attacks!”

“No...” Banoub let out a broken sob, but there was nothing for it. Even Atem couldn't— He couldn't stop it. Dark Magician’s attack succeeded thanks to Jeu's intervention, and Banoub fell to his knees. Blood red tears streamed down his face as his candles went out one after the other, until they were all gone, the final flicker plunging Banoub and his corner of the fogged space into nothing.

There was a sickening _thump_ of Banoub's hidden body hitting the ground... And then the quiet echo of hands slowly clapping.

“Well done,” The Devourer congratulated, and Atem grit his teeth around the black emotions that roared through him.

“You... Who are you? Why did you drag him into this? What do you know about my-” Atem choked on his last question as he actually looked at the evil copy of the fallen man and saw that _he_ was disappearing, too. Not into the mists around them, but simply dissolving into nothing. And even as he would never mourn the loss of him, Atem watched that dark, leering _thing_ dissolve with an unsettled mind.

His chance at answers had just gone up in black smoke.

The mist went with The Devourer, or whatever he was, and within four or five blinks it was all gone. The candles, the fog, the shadow... The only remaining evidence of the duel was Banoub, lying in a gathering pool of his own blood just beyond the bars, the hazy pain echoing in Atem's own body, and-

“Jeu?” Her name cracked out of his throat as the girl tripped forward, catching herself for a breath only for her legs to give way and drop her in a kneeling heap on the floor. Atem bolted across the room, stuffing his cards into their holder as he ran. Thus his hands were free to support Jeu's back and shoulder as she tried to rise, and failed. “You shouldn't try to stand.” _Neither_ of them should be trying to stand, given that Atem’s own muscles felt like they were turning to jelly and that strange distant feeling had never left his head.

But just looking at Jeu... There was something different with her, something beyond the blood still dripping lazily from her nose and the dazed darkness in her eyes that he could not name but still made his pulse flutter restlessly.

But she was still with him, still herself enough to look wrecked as she stared beyond him to the body on the floor. “I killed him...”

“You did not-” Atem clenched his jaw and eyes shut against the words, the lie that nearly tumbled out so thoughtlessly. He slowly, fervently corrected himself, and her. “ _We_ did that... But you didn't know what would happen. You couldn't have known.” That Banoub would _die_ , as the amount of blood made impossible to deny... And Atem had certainly not known what he was dragging Jeu into when he agreed to let her fight beside him. That she would end up saving him, and be left bleeding in his arms.

But she shook her head, grim yet steady as she denied him. “I knew... I knew enough. I just… I couldn't let him do that to you.” Her gaze turned back on him, and Atem's throat clogged with something heavy and worn and overflowing with a relief that made him want to break down and cry because it was _finally safe to_.

But it was just a feeling, and even if it lingered and made him clutch Jeu's shoulder a touch tighter than necessary to hold her up, he needed to stay steady. They weren't free yet... A point Jeu emphasized herself as her attention slid back to the prison door. “Are we still stuck?”

Turning to follow her gaze, Atem considered Banoub’s body with a reluctant but accepting note of where the bloody man lay, a spare foot or two beyond their cell door. “I think I can reach him through the bars. He likely has the keys on him somewhere. Are you okay to-”

“Go on,” she urged, pulling herself up out of his grip. His hands jerked to follow her but he stopped just short of touching her and let them slowly drop away. Jeu was staying up just fine on her own, and threw him a small grin when she realized he was still hesitating. “I'm not going anywhere.” He couldn't help but smile himself at the girl's show of strength. But the expression was painful to hold. He let it pass away as quickly as it came, and got up.

Moving over to the door, Atem slid back down to his knees and stared beyond the bars. Was it some trick of that dark fog's magic, some higher fate, or just a coincidence that Banoub had collapsed just close enough that Atem could reach out and search through the dead man's pockets? He didn't know, and there was no real point to mulling over it, or regretting what he had to do. He had faced far worse necessities before. So, after a somber moment of staring at the corpse lying face down in his own blood, Atem slid his arm and shoulder through the bars.

Banoub’s first pocket offered nothing, already soaked through from the bleed out and staining Atem’s hand in his search. The second was a stretch to reach, and when Atem managed to get his hand inside of it he found no stolen cards there. But he _did_ feel some metal and worked to pull it out-

_A sun. A bright sun of gold on a long chain being taken out of a chest of the same shining metal. The chest covered in symbols and words of a lost language. The chest being closed again with a lid. A lid with images upon it– Two Kuribohs, one winged, one wingless, between them the Eye of Wadjet–_

Atem jerked, fell backwards until he hit the ground gasping for air like he had been drowning. The room was swimming, but just as he had left it– Had it just been a moment? A minute? An _hour_? He, time didn't feel right, even as he knew that he could _not feel time_.

But as he slowly came back to himself and recognized the room about him, looked at what he had fished out of that pocket, he realized... Perhaps that was simply the effect, of being thrown into the future...

For he had taken something else from Banoub's pocket alongside the sought cell key. In his hand, he held the Millennium Tauk.

“...I...” Atem began, swallowed, and tried again, forcing himself up on an elbow with his eyes still dazedly locked on the familiar, unlooked for, but welcome necklace. “I just saw something. Something important. Maybe, something I'm supposed to look for?” He didn't remember ever seeing a pendant like that sun before, and yet the image of it burned in his mind like a hot coal, searing his brain with the certainty that it was _his_.

But as the Item's power faded away something else prickled in his mind, prompting him to spread his focus beyond the Tauk and realize… No one had answered him.

“Jeu?” Craning around, Atem's curiosity exploded into horror as he saw– She wasn't sitting up anymore. She was flat on the ground, her cards everywhere, her eyes shut, blood dripping freely down her face.

“– _Jeu!_ ”

Atem scrambled up, tripped across the room without ever fully standing, leaving the Tauk and key where he found them as he raced to reach the girl and gather her back up in his arms, lightly shaking her when she _still_ didn't open her eyes. “Hey! Wake up! You can't just– Not _now_...” His yells devolved into nothing but dead pleads, bare whispers as he went still, and just stared at Jeu's slack face. Ice replaced his blood as a sudden, freezing, strangling question occurred to him.

The black candles... She had lost some of them. More than half of them. Did that mean... Was the cost of that, that... Even when they had _won_... Could she still _die_?

“I... I have the key,” he choked out, beseeching her to answer even as he knew, even as his brain _screamed_ that she could not hear him. “I'm getting you out of here– Just hold on! We'll get you-” But he couldn't support both of them, and the instant he tried to pull her up they both toppled over, sprawling across the stone. Everything went still, silent, both remaining where they fell. When Atem finally found the will to pry his face off of the ground his gaze fell on one of Jeu's fallen cards. It took one moment to recognize it, and he was lost- Too hurt to stop, too worn to care, too tired to question himself.

He clenched his eyes against the tears, but Draining Shield remained burned into his mind as he balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against the stone.

The ancient, broken dungeon echoed with the sound of its lost king’s scream.


	15. Chapter 15

“Dr. Hussein to surgery. Dr. Hussein to–”

“Mr. Mutou-” It was the nurse. She stood in the doorway, her words drowning out the intercom announcement as it repeated its message. “There is a large group here asking to see you. A man named ‘Honda Hiroto’ is with them and is the one who asked if they can come in, but if you would like us to ask for the rest of the visitors’ names-”

“It’s fine,” Atem interrupted, dredging up the will to speak long enough to stop her. “I know who they are… Let them in.”

“Very well,” she answered in accented, but fluent English before slipping away.

The room went still again as Atem remained where he was, sitting on the edge of his patient bed. His eyes were open, but pinned to a crack in the linoleum as he let the sounds echoing in from the hall invade his senses. He hoped that they might act as a buffer against his own thoughts, white noise against the memories.

No such luck.

There was no running from what happened: the walk in the rain, the black duel in the dungeons, the agonizing hours after sitting in the dark not knowing if… If she was…

His breath caught in his throat as he clenched his eyes shut, consciously insisting  _no_  within his own mind. He wouldn’t consider it! He had to believe!

“Yuugi?”

The quiet, tentative call loosened the vice on his muscles, and he breathed out before slowly opening his eyes and lifting his head to find Anzu there in the doorway. She looked torn between relief and the deep, encompassing concern he knew the kind, strong woman for. The sight of that concern on her face, turned on him, filled Atem with a comfort he hadn’t looked for. He couldn’t reassure her, couldn’t offer the smiles or confidence he knew he should… Not when his soul felt soaked through. But some of the tension ebbed out of his bones as first Anzu, and then the others trickled into the room.

“Yuugi-” Honda said the instant he came in, Bakura and Malik close on his heels. “It’s good to see you up— The nurse here said that they had you on some sort of weird blood treatment!”

“They do,” Atem answered shortly, raising one listless arm from his lap to display the IV running into the back of his hand, as bruised and battered as his bare arms and shoulders were, not to mention his back and legs, even if they weren’t visible.

For a breath all was still as the growing group stared dumbstruck at the proof that he was, indeed, somehow hurt. But then three more came through the doorway: Jounouchi, Kuroi Mamoru, and-

“ _Yuugi!!_ ”

Atem couldn’t find it in himself to flinch or even brace himself as Mana bolted across the room, coming right at him. His shoulders screamed protests when the girl grabbed him and shook him a few, jerky times with her demands, but even then he couldn’t gather enough will to voice the pain.

“What did you do to her?! Jeu can’t- What happened to her?! She can’t… I know you didn’t like her, but. Why didn’t you…” Mana screamed at him, half-wrathful, half-begging, and all he could do was stare back, weary and crippled by the knowledge he had no relief to offer her. Slowly the girl’s babbled demands dissolved into nothing, her hands sliding down his arms as she hunched over, hiccupping with sobs that rang through Atem’s head like water dripping in a large, empty cavern, echoing over and over and over again.

“Mana, stop. Come on…” Kuroi said, near whispering with a soft lilt to his voice Atem had never heard – not in over three thousand years – as he reached out, gently prying Mana off of him. The girl turned and buried herself in his arms, instead, and Kuroi allowed it, hands on her heaving shoulder and head while his own gaze hung unfocused and sad on the curtained window of the hospital room.

Everyone remained still, too wary to disturb the grieving pair. In the end, none of them were required to break the silence personally. Another person had trailed into the room.

“My apologies, but is an ‘Amanda Mitchell’ here?”

It was the nurse from earlier.

Mana stiffened within Kuroi's grip as the group awkwardly parted to create room for the nurse to come in, and the girl looked at her, once she reluctantly drew up out of her tutor's arms. The nurse didn't delay her own approach though, stepping up and speaking pointedly, but not unkindly, to the young teen. “Mr. Mutou said that you are Lucia Ravin's cousin? We need to speak to you, and ask you some questions about-”

“ls she alright? Is she alive?” Mana rushed to ask, cutting off the nurse who only grew more befuddled as she realized every pair of eyes in the room were trained on her, waiting for the answer.

“-I believe that's what the doctor wishes to speak to you about,” she finally said, or at least that was what Atem assumed she had said with his broken comprehension of English. The nurse visibly gathered herself back together and put her smile back in place before going on. “She would be better equipped than I to explain the situation... Would you please come with me?”

“Go on,” Kuroi urged when Mana hesitated, looking ready to break under the weight of facing whatever the doctor had to say. She looked up at him in search of, something, but Kuroi just nodded somberly, pressing her gently forward. “I'll go with you- If the rest of you will wait here?” he finished in Japanese.

“Sure,” Jounouchi answered for the lot of them, offering a weak but encouraging grin to the clearly anxious Mana as she walked out with Kuroi and the nurse. He let it drop again only once they were gone, and moved immediately over to Atem. “Alright, man. What happened to you?”

-it wasn't that he wanted to hide it, but faced with the concerned, expectant stare of his and his partner's best friend, surrounded by echoing looks from their other friends, Atem found his tongue failing him. He just looked back at him, for all appearances stoic, but all fraying will within.

Apparently it came off as the refusal he feared it would, for Malik spoke up from his spot near the door, his insistence rational where Jounouchi's had been beseeching. “You have to tell us if there's to be any hope of helping you, Pharaoh.”

“I don't think you can help,” he countered instantly, but without any ire or cut to his voice. Simply as matter-of-fact as the youngest Ishtar in his answer. But simply speaking helped unhinge whatever remained clenched tight inside of him. After a few seconds of squeezing his hands together, aware of but unresponsive to Anzu drawing close to one side and putting a hand to his shoulder, he spoke.

“We were caught… There was a man- Tariq Banoub.”

“Yes.” Bakura had been hanging back, hovering near Malik and the door, but his cut-in drew Atem’s attention to him. Even with his expression still calm, his frown unaccusing, there was no ignoring the uncharacteristic weight in the expression of the usually quietly upbeat teen. “There was a broadcast on the radio when Kuroi drove us here… He said that the man was found dead in the palace ruins, where you were.”

That didn't bode well for what he could expect to hear from Kuroi, or Mana... But Atem couldn't focus on that right then. It was difficult enough to give the group a quick, summed-up version of what had happened that night. How Jeu had caught up to him and they had gone to the palace. How Banoub trapped them and knocked them out, dragged them to a palace cell and locked them up, stole the God Cards and forced them to duel him. And then, the strange shadow that had appeared, and what happened during the fight.

“After it was over, I got the key off of his corpse. But, Jeu-” Atem stalled, clenched his teeth against the memory before finally forcing the words out. “She was already too hurt. She passed out, and I couldn't move her. And when I managed to get out into the corridor myself there was a long stairway, and I couldn't get all the way up it. So I just... I waited there, on the steps.” He couldn't bring himself to look at any of them, admitting that. It just... It had felt like such failure. Letting Jeu end up like that, leaving her in hopes of getting help, and then not even managing it properly!

“Eventually the day guard came through. I told him that- That I didn't know what happened. That I had just woken up like that, and that Banoub and Jeu were still down there.” He gave a numb shrug, barely moving one shoulder under the light weight of Anzu's hand. “He called for help, they got us out, and that was that... I haven't even  _seen_  Jeu since the ambulance, and they won’t tell me anything- They keep saying I’m not family.”

“So, you don't even know if she's...” Anzu began asking only to cut herself off. Atem had started balling his hand against his thigh, material rolling and knuckles bulging with the pressure and the want to block out her words- He could only assume she had noticed.

“She can't be dead.” Atem looked up at the interjection, numbly surprised to realize it was Malik speaking. The man was leaning against the wall, looking debatably more tired than the rest of them with dark circles under his dulled lilac eyes. But he was at least light in how he spoke, taking one hand out of his pocket to gesture in a passing manner. “Not yet, anyways. Not likely- What would they have to talk to Mana about if she was already dead?”

His point was less than reassuring when fully considered, given the Ravin girl could be fading away right then, somewhere in the building… Or already had, and the doctor just wanted to tell Mana first. But it was more hope than Atem had had a moment before, and he took it in sober silence as Malik's own expression hardened. “I'm more interested in this 'Duel of Sacrifice and Shade' that the shadow mentioned... And how Banoub found you in the first place.”

Leaning over towards the side table - leaning out of Anzu's grip in the process - Atem opened the drawer that held his personal belongings to pull out a particular item. “I think he must have used this.”

“…but that’s-!” Anzu started, her wonder perfectly mimicked by the others around them as he held up the Millennium Tauk. He allowed them a moment to comprehend, to consider the implications, before nodding and speaking again.

“He had it in his pocket- And I think he must have used it to foresee us coming to the palace, and then set his trap. Jeu said, before we fought, that Banoub was part of the team that excavated the tomb to find the Items... It looks like he found them.”

“But, if he found that one, where are the other six?” Honda’s question underlined the trepidation that slowly painted all of their faces.

“Didn’t you say that that shadow seemed untroubled with losing the duel, and Banoub dying?” Bakura asked in his own turn, drawing attention to him before carrying on with the distracted tone of considering his words even as he offered them. “If the shadow said he wants you dead, he’s likely going to come after you again…”

“Yes,” Atem confirmed, untroubled if grim about the idea as he nodded along with Bakura’s point, finishing himself. “And with Banoub dead, he’s going to need another way to reach me. And given his reaction to losing, Banoub must not be his only… ‘puppet’. Or at least not the only one he can get. If he has other people already out there, maybe they have the other Items… Along with the God Cards.”

“Sacrifices,” Malik piped up, prompting Atem to blink his frown up from the floor to focus on the Egyptian. “You said he called it a Duel of Sacrifice and Shade, right? Obviously that shadow must be the ‘shade’ of the title, so Banoub must have been the sacrifice.”

“Unless the sacrifice is supposed to be Atem himself- And Jeu,” Jounouchi suggested, but Malik ignored the blond’s disgruntled cut-in and frowns. The Ishtar teen was too caught up in whatever was whirling in his own head, pulling himself away from the wall with decided movements.

“I should call my sister- She was supposed to be studying pictures of the chamber Jeu sent her last week. Maybe she’ll know something about all of this- The shade and the duel.”

So, Atem hadn’t been completely wrong about Isis and Jeu working together… He didn’t even know how to process the mixed emotions that rose and ebbed within him like a wave at the thought, and so didn’t even try, dismissing it in favor of catching Malik’s attention before he left. “I want to talk to her, too, when you’re done. I saw something when I touched the Tauk. I think Isis could help me with it.”

Malik stalled to pin him with a curious look, clearly intrigued by the hinted but half-veiled comment. But he lingered only a moment, giving a short nod and “Sure” before going.

As Malik left Bakura moved to follow, offering the group a passing smile as he went. “I promised Mutou-san I would call him and Otogi-kun once we saw how you were doing- Expect to talk to someone else on the phone soon, Yuugi!”

“Right…” Atem acknowledged as Bakura disappeared out the door, the one word tasting stale on his tongue.

The remaining quartet battled against silence in their company's absence, and Atem embraced it like a chance to catch his breath until Jounouchi spoke up. “How  _are_  you doing?”

Atem didn't say anything. Simply stared at them with feelings he was too weary to express sparking in his eyes. Even Honda's awkward but well-meaning efforts to give voice to them  _for_ Atem earned no reaction from the lingering king, who let his eyes fall shut against the questions. “Yeah, I mean- It must have been tough, sitting on those dungeon steps for, what, hours? Waiting for somebody to show up without knowing if they ever would... It's amazing you look as good as you do! Except for the bruises, of course… And the IV. Did the doctors say what that's for?”

“I can't remember what the medicine’s called,” Atem allowed, slowly opening his eyes again and leveling his flat stare on an uncertain Honda. “The doctor said it was to make my blood clot... When they brought me in, my nose wouldn't stop bleeding, and I kept passing out. The nurse kept asking if the three of us had taken pills, or been given something. They mentioned something called… Mindocin or Cumadin. Something like that.”

“But, whatever it was, they thought Banoub and Jeu took it, too... Does that mean that, Jeu showed symptoms like yours?” It was Anzu who asked, her voice careful and kind.

But it didn’t matter- The very mention caused Atem’s ever dry throat to close up again, and he clenched his fist until he could swallow again and speak. “Worse… Her nose was bleeding from the start- Before the duel even ended. She passed out cold and wouldn’t wake up, no matter what I did. So I… I left her. But I saw her- Just for a moment, when they brought her up from the dungeon to the ambulance. They had- She had a _tube in her neck_. She wasn’t even _breathing right_ \- They had to cut her throat open!” His fingers were digging into the edges of his kneecaps- Cutting into them. He sensed his friends’ growing alarm but he couldn’t stop himself as he drowned in the quicksand of memory. He couldn’t even say if it was his wounds or rage or grief clogging his words. “All because she helped me… She fought beside me, protected me, fell where I should have- After _I doubted her_! And if she-”

“Yuugi-” Anzu began, pleading, but the name was one cut too many and Atem jerked away from her beseeching touch. He wouldn’t take comfort from her… He had not earned that. He wouldn’t let her help him hide from the truth.

“If she dies, it’s _my fault_.”

“That’s stupid,” Jounouchi said, meeting Atem harsh glower for glower when they met eyes. “You didn’t ask that Banoub guy to attack you, or The Devourer – if it _is_ him – to do any of this. And fighting with you was _Jeu’s choice_. It might not be her fault, but if she wanted to help you, _did_ help you so damn much, then don’t go spitting on that by _forgetting it_!” The near snap might have been harsh, might have made them all jump, but Atem _did_ truly look at him as the storm within him stalled... Caught off-guard by the insistence. Before he could process his point, though, much less answer, Jounouchi softened, shrugging as he frowned towards the hospital room window. “Besides, this whole _thing_ is stupid. You heard Malik. For all we know-”

Before he could finish, though, approaching footsteps drew their focus to the door just as Kuroi and Mana came back in. The battle worn pain in their eyes was a chilled slap to Atem’s face and heart, but Mana spoke in broken, wet syllables before he could properly presume the worst.

“They, the doctor says that Jeu is still in surgery… She’s bleeding inside, and they don’t know how bad it is yet, or will be. But it’s _bad_ and they- They said, even if they save her that she might, she might never wake up.” There were tears in the girl’s eyes, but they hovered with the exhaustion of too many having come before them. The sight of Mana so torn down beneath her tutor’s comforting arm, so broken under the wheel of sorrow and worry was somehow much, much worse than the screaming and sobbing of before. And Atem could not even respond to it, for what she said struck him, too. Even his rage and frustration failed him, and a burning pressure gathered behind his eyes to match the one in his chest. All he could do was clench his eyes shut, turn his face to the wall, and strive to breathe. It wasn’t even about guilt anymore, however much it remained. Even ignoring that, hearing Mana’s words hurt. He didn’t know why… It just _did_.

But even if he couldn’t bring himself to look, he could still hear, and Kuroi’s quiet, weary explanations slid over numb but functioning ears. “We gave them Pegasus’s phone number, and they reached him. He should be here by morning to make any, decisions that might be necessary… Until then, we just have to wait for them to finish operating.”

Mana gave a strangled noise that might have been an attempt at a scoff, drowned in tears. The sound was quickly followed by Anzu’s quiet voice, her words filled with pained empathy.

“We are so sorry, Mana-”

“I don’t want apologies!” Mana interrupted, her cry all the harder to bear when it was filled with grief, rather than anger. “I just want Jeu to be alright! I just- Why did this have to happen to her?!”

“I don’t know, Mana,” Kuroi said, troubled but striving to calm the girl all the same, even as he shifted near instantly from comforting to seeking. “But, I am sure Atem can at least help us understand _how_ it happened.”

Atem slowly let his eyes open again, all but a few tears successfully exorcised. And what remained dried up as he stared at the far wall, sensing the silent attention on him even as he refused to look. It could be so simple… All he had to do was tell them the truth, and then at least if they didn’t believe, or were angry, it would be for the right reasons. At least he could truly, properly apologize. At least they might stop looking at him with that wary expectation he sensed.

Instead, he found himself parroting his set story back to them, never looking at his two lost and not-quite-found friends as he lied. “Sorry I, I don’t know what happened. I just, woke up, and we were already-”

“But how can that be?!” Mana said, and as Atem finally had to chance a look- Only to find himself staring into a protest that was at least as much emotional denial as rational suspicion. “How could you just pass out and forget something like that? And- What were you doing there in the first place?!”

Atem met the girl’s burning, searching green eyes without a blink or a word. If he was going to keep the secrets he promised Jeu he would, he would have to accept the ire and suspicion being thrown at him… No matter how much it hurt.

“Mana,” Kuroi cut in once more, his simple naming prompting the girl to turn her frustration to the floor. But just as Atem thought he might be intervening on his behalf, or at least for the sake of peace, the tutor looked at him himself, his stare unwavering as he spoke to the room at large. “Everyone, I would like to speak to Atem alone.”

“About what?” It was Honda who asked, calmer than the bristling Jounouchi but just as protective and demanding with his frown. Something about Kuroi’s stare, though, cut through any wariness Atem himself felt. If anything, the tutor was looking at him like… Like he _knew_ something.

Atem interrupted just at Anzu was about to speak up, cutting off her would-be defense with a shake of the head. “It's fine. Would you wait with Mana out in the hall?”

She seemed reluctant to answer at first, but eventually Anzu nodded, pushing a smile into place. “Of course we will-” 

“I don’t want to wait here,” Mana interrupted, but just as Atem suspected a full out protest, her indignant expression melted into uncertain, fearful sadness. “I want to be near the surgery… In case they have news of Jeu.”

“Fine by me.” Jounouchi didn’t quite smile, his expression serious when Mana looked at him. But his words were soft as he spoke to her. “We’re worried about her too, you know.”

The defensive tension leaked out of Mana’s face, and the girl seemed to deflate without it to hold her up anymore. Once again that frustrating, helpless feeling took over Atem’s mind, seeing her like that, but it helped that at least others could comfort her- Anzu, Honda, and Jounouchi guiding her out of the room after Kuroi gave her one last squeeze of a shoulder.

Only once the four were gone did the tutor take his own eyes off of the door, moving to a nearby chair and pulling it up beside the hospital bed without ever directly looking at him. Kuroi stared at his own folded fingers instead, his elbows on his thighs while Atem looked on, a curiosity for what Kuroi might have to say numbed by his clogged heart, but _there_ all the same.

“I know you are lying about what happened-” Kuroi finally began, and Atem couldn’t even pretend to be surprised, much less dredge up the energy to feign insult. All he could do was stare at Kuroi attentively, and not flinch when he finally met his gaze. “I can't blame you if the truth is what I think it is, but you need to stop. You aren't very good at it, if you will forgive me saying so.”

“-what do you think the truth is?”

The two just kept staring at each other, sizing one another up until Kuroi chose to answer, and cracked Atem’s nonchalance with his response. “That that dead man from the radio captured the two of you. That he put you and Jeu in a cage - or prison - and you dueled with him and some- Shadow.” Confusion stained Kuroi’s frown for a breath before he pressed on, sympathy and worry in his eyes that the patient could not respond to with his own still stuck wide open. “That the duel hurt you, somehow… And I assume it's what killed that man, and put Jeu on that operating table.”

 “-how do you know all of that?” Atem mumbled, his words strained by his lack of air as he could barely _breathe_ around his shock. “How _could_ you know?” 

“Because I dreamt it.” The explanation was smooth, to the point. Atem narrowed his eyes in confusion, but not suspicion or disbelief as Kuroi added detail to the claim. “I have suffered for two years or so now from what my doctor diagnosed as narcolepsy- Passing out out of nowhere, incapable of waking back up save naturally, in my own time… But when I pass out, I always have the same sort of dreams, every time. I thought I might be going crazy, but I joined a support group and a woman I met through it - Iwasaki-san - has the same dreams as I do… Dreams of fighting in a duel, _as_ a Duel Monster.”

A duel-

Atem nearly coughed on his own breath, Kuroi’s words sifting through his brain and getting stuck half-comprehended. But if he noticed – and he _had_ to have noticed – Kuroi didn’t comment, or even slow his explanations, the words sounding more like outward musings than proclamations. “The only difference is which monster we are, which duels we see, the faces of the people playing, and watching. But even then, there were times where the duels we saw… overlapped.” 

“Which-” He had to clear his throat to do it, but Atem _had_ to ask… Even as he knew in every single cell of his body what the answer was. “Which monster are you in the dreams?”

“I didn’t know at first. I couldn't see myself, and everything I heard in the dreams sounded off- As if said underwater. I only knew for certain after I saw the broadcasts from Battle City.” Kuroi’s gaze sharpened, visibly searching Atem’s own thrown expression for something before, having found it or not, finishing his explanation with a pointed “Last night, you used me to attack that man, Banoub.” 

“The Dark Magician.” This was it… This was it, wasn’t it? Why Kuroi had always looked at him strangely, from the moment they met in the apartment. He had recognized him from his dreams, everything he saw from the perspective of the Dark Magician when Atem played the card. Could it be that Kuroi was somehow still connected to his spirit monster? He _had_ died after merging himself with his _Ka_ to fight the Bakura of that time… Did that somehow bind him to the Duel Monster card of the spirit?

Whatever the answer, though, the explanation dashed any hope he had left that Kuroi remembered his life as a priest, remembered _him_ as anyone save Mutou Yuugi even though he had accepted Atem’s insistence on calling him by another name. That recognition only soured his thoughts further as he considered Kuroi’s claim, imagined the man witnessing all of those duels through the eyes of that favored card… Especially that last one, down in the dungeon.

“…I didn't want to do that-” Atem sounded defensive to his own ears, but he couldn’t help it. “To make you attack Banoub. It was that shadow I wanted to stop.”

“The blacked out version of the man,” Kuroi murmured, seemingly untroubled by the act Atem alluded to, or how the tutor himself had been used to cut down a man’s life. But he could see a pained weight beneath Kuroi’s query, contained but present as he took Atem’s own words and pressed forward with them. “What was he?”

“I don't know. I have an idea, though, and I think- It's not any medicine or whatever the doctors said that hurt Jeu. It was magic. It was  _him_.” Even speaking of him without a name made Atem want to punch something, but he buried that impulse into the sheets he balled within his hands. “And if there's any chance at all of helping her, it will be through stopping him.” 

Kuroi did little more than nod, his gaze back on his hands as he let the silence hang. Atem himself couldn’t hold onto his anger long, exhaustion and the thoughtful look on his once priest’s face eating away at his bottled wrath until he had to say something, even if just for the sake of saying it. “You must want to know why you have those dreams, and what exactly happened in the dungeon, and-”

“I have a _thousand_ questions for you after everything I have seen,” Kuroi interrupted, but instead of posing any such questions, he looked back up with a knowing resignation in his violet eyes. “…but I gather you will not answer any of them.”

Atem couldn’t lie to him, or bring himself to evade. He could only shake his head slowly, and try to explain. “I don’t have half of the answers, myself… And I promised Jeu I wouldn’t give you, _or_ Mana the rest. She… She didn’t want you mixed up in this.”

“Too late for that,” he countered. There was nothing dark or bitter in his protest beyond a faint scoff, though, and even that was undermined by the sadness that flickered on his face at the mention of his second pupil. Atem couldn’t let his own mind linger on the girl, though. She was too beyond his reach to help…

Kuroi, though… _He_ was in danger, too. “If summoning Dark Magician makes you pass out, you could get hurt- On one end _or_ the other. I won’t-”  

“Don’t you dare go avoiding it on my account.” Just like that Kuroi’s calm composure snapped like a twig, his eyes narrowing on Atem insistently, even as he clearly fought to remain rational. Polite. “I learned a long time ago how to work around the fainting, and if you aren’t going to tell me anything else about what’s going on, it’s the only chance I’ll have to be useful.”

Atem had no conscious recollections of the man Kuroi had once been beyond what he had seen within the world of his memory. And yet, Kuroi’s near desperate insistence threw him back three thousand years, to a priest kneeling at his feet, begging for a chance to prove his loyalty, and do his duty as he saw it. Kuroi did not bow, did not beg, and yet he was beseeching him all the same, and the long lost pharaoh found himself capable of no more protest than a mumbled “-you’re taking care of Mana. Looking out for Jeu… I don’t think there’s anything more important than that.” And after a few further beats of staring at each other across a surreal impasse, Atem nodded. “But if you say not to stop, I won’t.”

Kuroi instantly, visibly relaxed. “Then I’ll trust you. With that, and with her… I don’t even know why- Maybe it’s what I’ve seen you do through the dreams, or maybe it’s something else. But I can’t help it… I trust you, believe in you. And somehow I know, if Jeu has any chance of coming back to us, that chance will come through you.”

He couldn’t answer. His tongue felt like stone. All he could do was slowly nod as he stared with awe and uncertainty at the open, serene tutor. He seemed so sure, so at peace with his belief at him, even as Atem knew he must remember nothing of what they had once been. He just… _Believed_ , Atem could save her. That he would do something to fix everything.

If only Atem could find such confidence in himself.


	16. Chapter 16

“Phar- Ah.”

Kuroi and Atem both turned their attention to the door at the stumbling interruption. It was Malik standing there in the doorway, an open cellphone in his hand as he looked about the room with a confused frown. He was probably wondering where the others were, but rather than explain where they had gone or that he was having a private word with Kuroi, Atem simply asked, “What’s wrong?” 

“-it’s my sister. She says she wants to talk to you- Now.” He held the phone up higher. Atem hesitated, uncertain what to do when he wanted to take the call  _and_  finish the conversation, but Kuroi moved without any stalling or preamble.

“I should get back to Mana and see if anyone needs a ride back. I will make sure that she or someone else puts together a bag of your things and brings it back to you.”

“Thank you.” It was all Atem could think to say as Kuroi stood and left, throwing him only a short nod in farewell as he went. Everything felt half-done, half-answered as he watched the man's back recede through the doorway, but he had no time regret questions unasked. Not with the phone call awaiting him.

He gave a second, weak echo of thanks to Malik as he took the phone and put it to his ear. “-I’m here.”

“Pharaoh-” Isis's voice came through the speaker, her even timbre stained with emotion. It made Atem's throat clench, even before she said what he knew she would. “Malik has filled me in on what has happened. I am very sorry for what you have gone through, and the Ravin girl… But my brother says me you needed my help with something?”

“Yes.” He shared a glance with Malik. The caller’s brother had taken the seat Kuroi had just abandoned, and was clearly intrigued himself by whatever Atem had to say. But Malik said nothing, simply listened attentively as Atem explained. “-when I took the Millennium Tauk out of Banoub’s pocket, touched it, I saw something. A golden chest with two Kuribohs on the lid, one with wings. There was a golden pendant of a sun inside of it. Someone was taking the pendant out of the chest.”

“…that must have been a vision. When I first put on the Tauk, before I even understood its power, it would show me what I needed to know, and guided my steps. It must be doing the same for you.”

Atem nodded, but of course Isis couldn’t see it. “So, I am meant to find that chest, and the pendant… Do you think they’ll help me stop The Devourer?”

“Perhaps. It certainly must be important for you to know of it, for some reason… I don’t remember ever seeing a pendant like that, but the chest sounds familiar- I believe it is a piece in the collection taken from your own tomb.” Atem felt only silence in the place of shock. He had sensed from the beginning, when he first had that vision, that that pendant was  _his_. “And we are in luck- The exhibit is finally back in hand, and being unpacked in the Luxor Museum as we speak. Rishid and I will be there within the day, and I can take you to the exhibit myself as soon as you are ready.”

He opened his mouth to answer, to perhaps even voice relief, but Atem couldn’t quite find the words as the IV line taped to the back of his bruised hand stole his attention. He might want to say he was ready at once, happy to go the moment she arrived, but would he be allowed to, when he couldn’t walk more than ten minutes without feeling faint, with doctors and nurses regularly prodding him and frowning over his strange condition, and authorities likely to pop up at any point to ask about Banoub?

Before he could gather together one answer or another, though, Isis was speaking again, her own words heavy with hesitancy.

“But there is something else we need to speak of, Pharaoh… I apologize for not warning you of this sooner, but when Malik mentioned this ‘Duel of Sacrifice and Shade’ I recognized it instantly from my studies of the walls of that black chamber Jeu Ravin showed you.”

All questions of a hospital release flew from his mind as he sat bolt upright. “-you know about it?”

Yes - I just never imagined it was something you would be facing, now. From the metaphors used and descriptions and images, I had assumed the ‘Duel of Sacrifice and Shade’ was something that you had faced in your  _former_  life, not something you were yet fated to endure. And the being that used, or uses the ritual isn’t described as ‘The Devourer’ in the engravings. He is called only ‘the Enemy of Ra’ or ‘the Evil One’.”

Again, Atem’s gut churned with recognition without any actual memory or thought to pair with the reaction. He  _knew_  that term, just not from where, like a name ever just on the tip of his tongue. And it ended in nothing but frustration, that certainty without context that that black shadow he had seen in the palace dungeon was indeed no stranger to him.

 “-they must be the same thing, though” was all he managed to say, or truly settle on. “That shadow I saw had to be him, whatever he is called.”

“Given all of the evidence, I can only assume you are right… The walls of the underground chamber detailed a dark ceremony that _must_ to be the duel you were forced into in the dungeon, and that ritual is apparently unique to this Evil One… The Devourer.”

“Do you think I could have actually been in a duel like that before?” Atem asked, his countenance darkening at the very idea, and the wonder of who might have fought alongside him, and possibly fallen, in  _that_  fight… Battle of the souls, as it would have been- Not a duel. “Is that why there is a record of what the ritual is? Because it has happened before?”

“There is nothing there confirming either way, I am afraid. The use of the word 'duel' implies some awareness of how it would be duel monsters used in the battle, not true spirit monsters. And it very well  _could_  be that this is the first time it has ever occurred- After all, if what Jeu and Malik told me is true, and the chamber was created ‘by the gods themselves’ then the writings on the walls could be based on prophecy, not history.”

-he had all but forgotten about that claim, mentioned by Jeu and confirmed by Malik down in the onyx black chamber. It had slipped from his mind amid the loss of his partner, Shadi’s appearance, and the discovery of this hidden enemy. The unnamed gods, who were in some sense behind it all… Did The Devourer count as one of them, or was he only their enemy as the title implied? Was the chamber created to help Atem meet this challenge, or did it serve _His_ needs? 

“What the walls actually say, though,” Isis went on, “Is that The Enemy of Ra will choose a sacrifice – a mortal who has already had his or her soul touched by The Evil One in some way – and use him or her as a conduit of his own will, first to set up the Duel of Sacrifice and Shade, and then to fight in it. During the duel, The Evil One’s own will manifests itself as a shadow of his current sacrifice. It acts and duels independently from that sacrifice, even as he still controls him or her.”

And that confirmed that the wall writings must be accurate, for that was exactly what Atem had seen happen. The Devourer acted through Banoub, as the spirit of the Ring had once acted through Bakura, until the duel actually began and he had appeared as that shadow, and forced Banoub to play along even as Banoub cried and screamed and clearly wanted to run. The memory of it was too fresh, too chilling, and Atem had to shut his eyes against it, and force himself to keep listening.

“The sacrifice has no more power to stop the duel than the chosen targets, and sacrifice and targets alike gamble their bodies and souls to win… I didn’t understand the terms at the time, but perhaps you will. It says that ‘losing the white lights’ harms the body, while ‘losing the black lights’ wounds the soul.”

“The candles-” Atem murmured, so quietly that he realized from Malik’s confused look that it must have been inaudible. He repeated himself a little louder for his sake, and for the woman on the other end of the line. “The candles- When we dueled Banoub and The Devourer, these strange candles appeared- White and black ones. When we lost life points the lights would go out. First the white, and then the black. And The Devourer did say something about it being 'bad' if our black lights went out… And when I took an attack myself and all of the white lights went out, I felt… Like, something had invaded me. Like it was _removing_  me from myself somehow.”

“That fits…” Isis agreed, her quiet mumble grim with the confirmation. “The wall says that, as the lights go out, the players souls are being torn apart. Attacked. And to protect themselves, the players ‘disappear into themselves’. And, the damage must only be truly devastating once a black light goes out.”

Disappear into themselves… The very idea brought to mind a strange image of some danger coming at Atem within his soul room- Of him locking and barricading the door and running to hide somewhere in the dark corners of his labyrinth as  _something_ rammed again, and again, against the walls of his very soul… Trapping him within himself lest he be destroyed.

Had something like that truly almost come to pass during that duel, without him even knowing it? Had… Had that happened to _her_?

“So… So Jeu won’t wake up because her soul is ‘lost within herself’?”

“If she lost black lights, then yes… And she might well be too lost to ever emerge again.”

Atem clenched his eyes shut against the suggestion. What he wouldn’t give, right then to have back his Puzzle. He didn’t know if it would do any good, though, as he had never tried to invade another mind or soul with his Item– Only rearranged them as they deserved from without. He had never tried to  _heal_  with the Puzzle before.

And Isis quickly put the potential pointlessness to his wish by saying “Even if there was some way to reach her, draw her back out, it would do no good if her physical wounds are fatal... We can only be thankful that she did not lose all of her lights, like this Banoub. For the walls say ‘If every light goes out, the soul is torn asunder and everything the victim is, is lost to the darkness’.”

Torn-

His eyes flew open again and he stared, unseeing, at the wall above Malik’s baffled face. For had he… Had he actually… Atem had taken lives before. Invaded minds and souls… But for a few, foul moments, he feared he would heave right in the unsuspecting Ishtar's face. For he hadn’t just helped kill a man- He had  _erased him_.

And where that was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat, his hands shook as he wiped at his brow for the  _further_ truth he stumbled through. “But, The Devourer will try again. And that isn’t just the sacrifices? That could happen to the targets? …one of us?” One of his  _friends_?

What he wouldn’t give to be was wrong.

“I am afraid, Pharaoh, that that is correct.”

* * *

Atem flinched as he stepped out of the elevator into a hallway far too bright. He knew it must have been no brighter, or dimmer, than the one he had just come from, but some part of him had expected it to be… Somber on that floor. Quiet and dark. But it was the exact opposite. One of those constant announcements was sounding over the intercom, a young child screeched and yanked on his mother’s arm as they left a nearby room, and a pair of nurses kept on with a casual conversation over at a nearby station.

One of them looked in Atem’s direction as he passed by, and he kept his attention turned pointedly forward, mentally steeling himself against stumbling or stopping to rest even as his legs threatened to give out from under him. He might look like any other hospital visitor with his clothes from the night before back on - sans scratched up jacket, left behind in his room - but what if they noticed his state? If they caught him, realized he was an unattended patient, they would likely send him back.

Mana had offered to bring him herself, the tentative suggestion coming off like a peace offering for taking her distress out on him earlier. But the girl was still quaking in her own fear and sorrow, and even if he didn’t suspect it would hurt her to come with him, see her cousin again for herself, Atem couldn’t say yes. Not when he imagined it- Walking into that room beside Mana, or any of his friends… No, he declined, claiming he was too tired to go and that he wanted to sleep. He waited for his friends to leave with Kuroi- Head back to the apartment for his things and to get some rest themselves… Only then, did Atem get out of bed.

He wanted to do this alone, without anyone… No one to see him.

Atem luckily found the right hall without much hunting, and didn’t cross paths with any other nurses before he made it to the right door. A sign beside it read Room 82 - the number Mana passed on to him and the rest of group after a doctor came by to tell her Jeu was out of surgery.

He couldn’t say exactly _why_ he was there, hesitating a breath before opening the door. It was just… He _needed_ to see for himself. And so, lest someone notice him hovering and start asking questions, Atem allowed himself no more than a single reluctant moment before stepping into the half-lit room… And when he saw the form in the bed, the restless agitation in his gut fell away, replaced a dank, paralyzed emptiness.

She could have been sleeping, propped up in the reclined bed, drowning in a yellow hospital gown far too big for her, hands arranged so naturally over the covers. There was a single IV line running into the back of her left hand, identical to the one Atem had had taken out not an hour ago. Even the breathing tube that he had seen the emergency workers put into her throat was gone, the only sign of it ever having been there a simple, clean piece of gauze taped around her neck. But it had been replaced by a translucent, thin tube connected directly to her nose, hooking behind her ears and catching under her chin before gathering together and running into the wall… And every inch of her skin from the face beneath the breathing tube to the hand with the IV in it was covered in bruises, shades of blues and purple marking her everywhere and all but shining black at her elbows and fingers… And who knew where else.

She looked so, broken… So still, and some buried, borrowed memory of Yuugi’s grandmother wasting away in a very similar state years ago burst up in Atem’s mind’s eye without warning or invitation. It took some moments for him to exorcise it again, and many more before he found the will to step closer. The door slid shut on its own as he moved right up to the edge of the bed, and some inane impulse struck him to reach out and shake her- Gently, of course. But firmly. Just enough so that she would _wake up_.

But she wouldn’t… Mana had already come and gone with Kuroi, and even Jounouchi and Bakura had visited Jeu before they left, and all had confirmed what they had known from the start. She was alive, breathing… But she wasn’t there.

And… And really. Even if some tiny part of him wanted to be  _sure_ , Atem’s muscles stiffened against the idea of actually touching her. She looked so _fragile_ … And he had done her so much ill, already.

But he couldn’t leave her, either. That felt just as wrong as reaching out and taking one of those bruised hands. So, even as he knew that he couldn’t stay there long- That eventually someone would notice he was missing, or come by to check on Jeu and find him there, Atem pulled a chair from a tiny dining table over to her bedside and settled in it in an exhausted heap. The chair was hard, uncushioned, and his back would go from grumbling to screaming within minutes… But Atem felt more comfortable, more  _right_ than he ever could have in his own bed, two floors ups.

For some time he just, stared, first at the blinds that covered the large, nearby window, and then eventually at Jeu… The eventual hint he could make out of her chest moving up, down, up smashing into Atem with an intensity all the fiercer for how silent his mind had just been. That pressure was welling up in his face again, forcing him to focus on slowing his breathing before he did something foolish like cry again. It was  _pointless_ , and she- She was  _alive_ , and if Isis was right, she was still buried in there somewhere! She had survived the night, was stable, and as long as her body and soul were intact, there was hope!

She might be lost, but he at least knew where to find her… Unlike his partner…

“-I’m sorry,” he blurted out, no more than a whisper, and if some part of him blanched at the idea of talking to someone who couldn’t hear him he smashed it down, wrinkling his fingers in his pant legs to keep from reaching out as he went on blurting out hushed apologies. “I’m sorry I ever thought you had hurt  _aibou_ \- That you were hiding… I’m sorry you got hurt, keeping me safe. I’m sorry I couldn’t just- That I couldn’t see anything but threats in your secrets. That I didn’t realize you wanted nothing but to  _help me_.”

And he was going to crying. Damn it,  _he was not going to cry_!

He sucked in one long, harsh breath and let it fill his lung, shutting his eyes against the tears until they went away… Until he felt safe to quietly, evenly go on. “I won’t leave you like this… I swear it. I  _won’t_. I will find  _aibou_  and defeat this ‘Devourer’ and finish my destiny as I was supposed to, but I will  _not_  just turn my back on this.” He couldn’t- He couldn’t imagine finding Yuugi and looking him in the eye, telling him about this girl and how he had sacrificed her, however unintentionally, to the goal of getting his partner back. It felt somehow just as wrong as it would be telling Yuugi that Anzu, or Jounouchi, or Honda or his grandfather or any of their other friends had fallen in that strange duel, become the cost of bringing him back. Yuugi would never,  _ever_  accept that… And, however some dark, dark corner of Atem might whisper that he had been willing to make such a choice before, Atem wouldn’t do that again. Oh, he  _could_  do that… Might- Might _well_  do it, if a gun were truly put to his head… But he didn’t _want_ to be that anymore. He had become better than that.  _Jeu_ deserved better than that… Just as  _Yuugi_  deserved better from  _him_ …

“I won’t…” he whispered, barely a whisper at all, merely an exhale of breath as he stared at the unconscious girl and willed her to hear him, for his promise to breach the broken recesses of her mind. “I swear it… It won’t come to that… I will fix this.”

“Ana aasif-”

He jerked like he had been shot.

He tried to stand, but even with the support of the chair arms exhaustion and shock pushed him back, and he landed back in the chair with a hard thunk that made the chair legs screech from the impact. But he didn’t notice. He was too busy yelling “Who is it?!” the sense of invaded privacy making his demand harsh, even as he knew whoever had come in likely had a better excuse for being there than he did.

A hand came down on his shoulder and prompted him to go still, and Atem actually relaxed,  _listened_  to the silent bid to stay where he was as whoever it was came around into view and-

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” the man reassured, his deep, warm words coming out in an accented Japanese to match Atem’s own thoughtless use of the language. The fluency should have been a shock, perhaps, given Atem usually had to settled for garbled English to communicate with anyone in Luxor, but his thoughts were focused on anything _but_ when he looked up at the speaker- And went completely, utterly still, slumping in boneless shock.

“Are you a friend? I just wanted to visit her myself, and… Are you alright, my boy?”

Atem tried to speak, but couldn’t swear he managed even a _sound_ , the growing concern on the man’s face doing nothing to still the pharaoh’s suspicions that he had truly and utterly  _lost it_. For discovering long lost priests and friends in the last weeks had done _nothing_  to prepare him for  _this_. Visiting a comatose friend in her hospital room, only to look up–

And find his own father looking down at him.


	17. Chapter 17

“…do you not speak Japanese? I thought I heard you saying something a moment ago.” 

Atem swallowed, strove to find his voice and answer the man with the face of Pharaoh Akhenamkhanen. But he couldn’t. Quite. Manage- And he could feel sweat gathering on his brow and hands as the father he remembered as nothing but a hazy memory looked down at him with no recognition of his own, seeming as confused as he was concerned by his silence.

_Say something… Just say **something**!_

“I–” he gulped, fidgeted, moved his hands to grasp the chair arms, but his fingers felt half-numb, the cloth a dull sensation beneath his grip. “I, speak Japanese…”

“…well, that’s good to hear,” the man said, edging delicately into the answer. But there was nothing impatient or unkind in his frown as he considered Atem, not pressing when he didn’t quite meet his gaze. “It would make it difficult to talk, otherwise, unless you know Arabic or English… But you really don’t look well. Should I call a nurse for you?”

“No,” Atem insisted, hiccupping the word while his focus remained turned inward. He - his  _father_  - did not remember him. It shouldn’t be such a shock- Kuroi and Mana didn’t either, nor Kaiba or Sugoroku when it came to _him_ , not the ‘other’ Mutou Yuugi. But… But this was his  _father_.

He couldn’t think about it. Not then- Not when his silence baffled the man and might prompt him to call unwanted help. Skirting his glance up to meet the man’s, he forced himself to speak, however brokenly. “I, I’m fine. Just tired. I’ll go back to my own room soon… I just wanted to see Jeu.”

“Ah,” the man said, and apparently he found the explanation a reasonable one given how his gaze slid passed him and hung on the battered girl in the bed. He looked at her sadly, with the heavy ache of worrying for someone too important for indifference, but too distant for tears, or true grief. It should have disturbed Atem, aroused suspicion in his mind for the latest, most shocking link between Jeu and another ghost from his past. But he was too distracted to bother with such questions, his gaze hanging not on the girl, but the familiar-faced stranger.

He was… He was so clearly a man of the present, comfortable in a navy suit with his beard trim and hair close cropped, slicked back and uncovered where Atem's memory supplied nothing but images of him ever in a headdress. But he was still  _so similar_. The same broad, powerful frame, the same sure composure… He even looked about the same age as in that spare memory, wrinkles about the eyes and his grey whiskers showing barely a hint of a former darker tint.

Even the eyes themselves were the same- A soft red-violet, shining with a familiar warmth as the man looked down and regarded Atem again. “Then you must be a friend of hers- Were you in the same accident she was?”

“-yes” he managed, struggling to move or even breathe, afraid to break whatever spell conjured the man into existence. But he was no illusion or dream- His father was truly standing  _right there_ , alive and breathing, awaiting answers… Looking at him like he was a stranger. But _that_  thought was poison, and Atem strove to swallow it back and focus on what he actually said. On the insanity that he was there, in Jeu Ravin’s hospital room. “…you know her?”

“Oh yes, did she not tell you?” Atem shook his head, struggling to stifle the confusion and suspicion within him into something visibly lighter, more benign. He must have been successful enough, for the man’s lips curled behind his whiskers with a clearing head shake and quiet, deep chuckle that made something in Atem’s chest hurt. “I apologize, of course she didn’t- and I haven’t introduced myself, have I?” Pulling one of his hands from his pant pockets, he extended it in greeting to the seated teen. “I am Akram Khalil. I know Jeu through Pegasus Crawford, and her work with the Egyptology Department, related to the Luxor monuments.”

“-nice to meet you,” he said, slowly taking the hand offered him. It was warm, larger than his own, with light calluses on the fingers that caught at his own skin. He also - perhaps it was only Atem’s own wistful impression - but he could  _swear_  he saw something flicker in Akram’s eyes beneath the steady kindness and concern… But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “I’m… I’m Atem.”

“Just Atem?” Akram asked immediately, the name apparently holding no magic for him beyond confusion for the lack of surname.

Taking his hand back and rubbing it self-consciously on his pant leg, Atem kept his expression steeled, eyes on the unconscious girl before them as he struggled to accept that he would have to claim his partner’s name, or else risk further suspicion. “…that’s what I go by. If you wish, you can call me-“

“Mutou Yuugi.”

Atem wouldn’t have thought he could tense any tighter. But he certainly proved otherwise upon hearing that voice, and turning his head to confirm the speaker’s identity.

Pegasus J. Crawford stood in the doorway, hovering just within the threshold. It left the man in half-shadow, there between light fixtures, but there was no mistaking him, or how  _he_  didn’t miss Atem as he slowly crossed properly into the room. “Except you’re the  _wrong_  Mutou Yuugi, aren’t you?”

He didn’t respond, as much out of defensive stubbornness as a strange sense that something was off about the man. As Pegasus passed into true visible range, the wounded pharaoh realized what it was- Even in the midst of characteristically taunting him, Pegasus was carrying himself all wrong. His movements were as quiet as his words, sedate and slow, and he fell silent as he stepped between the two already in the room. His attention was pinned to the bed and its occupant, and even in profile with his long silver locks blocking his face… Atem was struck with a sudden, horrid reminder of how Sugoroku had looked, staring at the collapsed remains of the tomb where his grandson had disappeared.

It was the face of a man helplessly looking on as someone he loved disappeared right before his eyes.

But this man… This man was not his honorary grandfather. Pegasus had  _stolen_  the soul of that very grandfather, threatened the lives of the Kaibas, done so much damage to so many people. Atem had hated him with a vengeance, once upon a time, the fact that Pegasus could rightly compare their actions only making that wrath burn the hotter. Those feelings had been largely buried in Duelist Kingdom and been replaced by understanding, pity, and even at times _gratitude_ once Pegasus finally emerged from wherever he had disappeared to after their final duel, not long after Tenma tried to avenge his apparent death. He had helped them during the Orichalcos crisis and been an ally, however distant and unlikely, throughout the last leg of Atem’s journey before the Ceremonial Duel.

Those mixed feelings only made it harder, though, finding what to say to that enemy who was no longer an enemy. What _could_ he say, meeting him again under such circumstances?

“The doctor said they don’t know why it happened.” Akram said just as the silence grew completely unendurable. As he reached out to clasp Pegasus’s shoulder and spoke, Atem numbly realized that the two must have come to the hospital together. “As long as we don’t know what is going on, we can’t be certain she won’t overcome it. She’s stronger than she looks.”

“Yes…” Pegasus breathed, but nothing else, and Atem swallowed back his own want to speak, to fill them in on what he knew- That of course the doctors didn’t know what was going on, that medicine and surgeries weren’t going to fix her. That it was  _magic_  and _darkness_  to blame.

Given how Pegasus hadn’t yet questioned his presence there, Atem could only assume that he knew that already on some level.

“-thank you for coming with me, Akram,” Pegasus suddenly said without taking his eye off of Jeu, some of his old shallow levity back in his voice. “You didn’t have to- I just needed you to sign off on the fact Jeu wouldn’t be sending any translations or research your way… For a while.”

“Perhaps,” Akram said, not commenting on the man’s change of tone as he released him, folding his hands behind his back. “But I wanted to see her for myself. Say in her presence that I believe she will recover- If only for my own sake.” He said it so simply, soundly, as though appearing to express his faith was as much a given as offering congratulations to a couple at a wedding, or condolences to a family member at a funeral.

The latter mental comparison made Atem’s throat clench up, and he grit his teeth against some sound he didn’t let live long enough to identify while Akram soberly demanded “Stay strong, Pegasus” before stepping back from the bedside. “I will wait for you in the hall. A safe recovery to you, too, Atem.”

Alarm struck him hard as he realized that Akram was leaving, slipping away with no more than a friendly nod to him before Atem could even turn his dismay his way. Akram must have missed it with his back already turned, and Atem strove to stand and follow him fast enough to catch him, even as his weak legs protested against the sudden movement.

“I’d have a word with you before you go,” Pegasus interrupted his escape, his words even and assuming of consent as his gaze never actually shifting from the bed’s occupant. Atem wanted to protest, to ignore him. That was  _his father_ walking away! But a second glance to the door and he realized that he couldn’t catch Akram without yelling, and drawing likely attention from the staff…

So he relented, fell back in his seat, and asked the remaining man “Who was that with you?”

…nothing. Despite delaying him Pegasus ignored him and his question, and had there been some sneer or leer on the card game creator’s face, perhaps Atem might have snapped at him. But it was clear his distraction was based on his focus on Jeu, and Atem just couldn’t bring himself to insist… Falling instead into a begrudging, disappointed silence until Pegasus finally spoke again.

“Little Lucia…” he whispered, the English painfully clear enough for Atem to understand as he followed Pegasus’s gaze to the girl, guilt and pain churning in his gut. “Still so little… I thought I had protected her from my ambitions. That had been my comfort while I recovered from our duel, and the loss of my Eye, and thought back on all that I had done… All for nothing. But then I get a phone call from this hospital, and a nurse tells me that Lucia had been found in some ruins - the Luxor Palace - with a Tariq Banoub… and you.”

Atem expected to see anger or hatred in Pegasus’s eye when the pharaoh dared to raise his gaze. But there was nothing, or at least nothing he could read in that sole red eye beyond a weary suspicion, and silent question. Pegasus wanted answers, and all he could do was quietly correct him, unsure where his own confidence came from. “Jeu… She prefers  _Jeu_.”

“I know what she prefers,” he said, and Atem couldn’t say if it was irritation or fondness he heard in Pegasus’s voice. Possibly both. In any case, Pegasus didn’t even blink as he answered, his scanning stare still steady on Atem. It made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle, and he had to consciously bash back the foolish wonder of whether Pegasus could still read minds. “What I want to know is how you found her.”

“I didn’t,” Atem answered, his flat tones and stare biting back for the accusation buried in the inquiry. “She found me.”

He could swear he saw confusion, even uncertainty on Pegasus's face, and- Was it really such a shock? Jeu had settled there in the country, lived there for apparently  _years_ , and worked in dead languages and with the same lost world that had spawned the Items, and  _him_. Was it so strange that, like Pegasus, she would cross paths with him? That she was involved with this?

“Yuugi- Or  _Atem_ , was it?” Pegasus narrowed his eye at him critically, but Atem couldn't swear if it was for the implications of the name Akram had called him or the conflict that surely showed on his own face, caught between instinctively denying Pegasus his secrets and embracing that true name. And as he strove to come to terms with the conundrum, Pegasus moved, grabbed the second chair from the dining table and moved it to sit just across him, hands folded over one thigh as he reclined back. “I suggest you start explaining- And don’t skip any of the gruesome details, if you please.”

Atem just… looked at him. Let his cool glance and silence say all that needed to be said. Jeu had not trusted Pegasus with the facts, even after he stopped actively posing a threat, so why should he?

“…nothing?” Pegasus finally asked, quirking a brow at the stony king, who continued not to speak. His one wide eye shut with a slow, pointed sigh, one hand rising to scratch at the edge of his chin. “You know, after I heard the report from the hospital, I was kind enough to ‘discourage’ the authorities from investigating this case- Banoub's death, Lucia's accident and yours. I assumed it wouldn’t be good for any of us if they explored their suspicions of a homicide, at least until I understood what she had gotten herself mixed up in. But if you don’t  _have_  the answers yourself, perhaps I should revoke that suspension. Maybe you would be interested in what they discover yourself?”

The look Pegasus shot him was seemingly curious, but Atem could see black amusement dancing beneath the surface as he himself considered the veiled threat… And grit his teeth as he weighed the cost of refusal. He _had_ been shocked when doctors but no cops had swarmed him in the wake of his discovery by that security guard, but he had assumed that the authorities were simply in no hurry to question him- That the hospital had passed on the word that he wouldn't be released for at least a couple of days, and they had time yet to catch him for questioning.

Apparently not.

But, if they came for him _now_ , what would happen? Would they detain him as a suspect because he was the only conscious person to walk away from that bloody scene? Restrict his movements?  _Arrest_ him? He couldn't chance that- He couldn’t spend all of the days before October 7 th locked in a jail cell!

“…I don’t even know where to start,” he finally managed, his eyes pinned to Jeu's unconscious face as he spoke, mutely apologizing to her for his broken silence.

“Try the earliest point you can think of,” Pegasus answered, his gleeful triumph – ever real or simply the front of a threat, Atem could not say – fading away, sober stillness taking its place. “I have time.”

And the pharaoh didn’t. But he talked all the same, explained how they had come to Egypt so that he could pass into the afterlife, and Yuugi had disappeared instead. How Jeu had appeared as if from nowhere, and guided them to the palace where Shadi spoke to them. How there was an enemy after him he couldn’t even name beyond an iffy title, and how that enemy had found him when he and Jeu had come back to the palace.

The whole telling was long, far too long, and at times it was as much emotion as exhaustion that stayed his words and made them flow slowly, brokenly between hitches of breath. At one point, as he had described the loss of his partner, Pegasus interrupted him by rising from his chair long enough to get a glass of water from the sink, and it was only when he offered it to him that Atem realized how badly he must have been wheezing, struggling to get out the words. He took it without looking at the man, rushing to be able to go on, and Pegasus said nothing- About his state or his clear emotions. He simply retook his seat and listened, allowed him to finish the tale in broken, worn syllables.

Even when he finished they stayed as they were, not speaking, not looking at each other- Or at least Atem assumed so, as he did not look up to check, but he felt no burn on his face from unwanted attention. He couldn’t begin to guess what Pegasus might have to say about it all… And he never quite had a chance to find out, as the door opened and someone else walked in.

“Sir-” It was Mr. Crocketts, Pegasus’s butler. The man paused a moment as he surveyed the room – him, Pegasus, the girl in the bed – but Atem could not say what he thought of what he saw with those sunglasses on, blocking any sign of his thoughts. “Apologies, but Mr. Khalil says he needs to return to the museum. He still wants to know-”

“Yes, I know, Crocketts,” Pegasus interrupted. “Stall him a little longer, I will be right there.”

“Yes, sir,” Crocketts answered before bowing and moving away from the door once more.

“Akram Khalil-” Atem said before Pegasus could even look back at him, the name falling out of him in the impulsive panic that Pegasus would leave before he would get a chance to ask. “Who is he?”

“-just an old local political connection of mine. Why? Who is he to you?” Pegasus countered with a simple curiosity that seemed to morph and twist into something more amused as he took in his silence and struggling expression. “Come on, ‘Atem’- You can’t get something for nothing, you-”

“Why do you avoid Jeu?”

He couldn’t even say where that had come from. He just wanted to say something, _anything_ to get Pegasus to stop prodding him. And… Well, it did work. The smirk washed off of Pegasus’s face in an instant, and he just, _stared_. For some time, Atem wondered if he just wouldn’t answer, as he himself refused to share tender, confusing truths. The clock on the wall clicked on, its beats thrumming in his brain.

“I brought her with me to this country,” Pegasus finally said. Atem’s eyes widened, his lips stapled shut lest he discourage him from going on. “Not the first time- Not when I stumbled through this country’s deserts in search for something to fill the white canvas of my heart, and found the Eye instead.” Suddenly Pegasus rose, not to leave as Atem feared but to hover over Jeu, peering down at her face like he was reading the events of the distant past in the discolored patterns of her bruises. “I had left her in the care of others when I first came here - she didn’t need to see me like that - but when I came back to begin my proper study of the ruins to create Duel Monsters, I brought her with me. I could see she still missed her sister as I did, and as I told her of my travels the same wonder of Egypt sparked to life in her eyes. I thought, perhaps she might find something of the same hope, the same purpose I had, if I brought her here…” The silver-haired man slid off into silence with the telling, and when he managed to find his voice again it had dropped into some place dank and dark that made Atem blink with the disconcerting shift. “Instead, I lost her. It was in those ruins- The palace you were found in. One moment I was showing her an image of Anubis on the pillar, the next-”

_“-Lucia?” Pegasus looked back, expecting to find the young girl there at his elbow or looking at one of the nearby etchings. It wouldn’t be so strange if something nearby caught the curious girl’s eye, but she was nowhere to be seen. The large broken courtyard was empty save for him, and as he turned about on his feet Pegasus’s stomach did a warning twist with the realization that there were at least a half dozen different directions she could have gone. “Come on, young lady,” he said with an insistently light laugh, looking about for a small foot or a shadow from behind a wall or fallen stone. “What did I say about wandering-”_

_“ **AHHH-!** ”_

_His lips trembled with an answering scream he couldn’t quite make. Not until his feet unfroze and he ran blindly towards the cry._

_“Lucia!!”_

“But I couldn’t find her,” Pegasus said, pressing on with the tale as though possessed by some insistent force to unearth the memory. And Atem did not stop him, did not interrupt even to mention the wonder of his mind of a recollection of his own- Of Jeu, explaining how she had found that open passage beneath the collapsed throne room. How she had fallen through the floor as a girl.

“It took hours- I had brought in the site security and the local authorities to help, but still we couldn’t find her. Not until near sunset, and when I - alone - did…”

_Pegasus turned a corner in the maze of broken passages that wormed their way through the palace proper, half-expecting to find another caved-in dead end or a room he had already seen and searched. But not only did the path unexpectedly open back up to the main, exposed space of the ruins, but there- near the exact middle of the room, huddled over on the ground-_

_“Luci-” he cried, only for the name to strangle in his throat as he saw- He **swore** he saw it- The outline of a figure hovering in the shadows of another entrance of the room, just a few feet from the still girl._

“It was him- Shadi, I think you called him?” Pegasus asked without question, and finally Atem broken his own vow of silence with a quiet, hard “ _What_?” for the name, his eyes narrowing with introspective confusion. Shadi had been there? Had… Had he spoken to Jeu? Had she _known_ him already, before?

“But I couldn’t swear he had really been there, even then,” Pegasus went on, ignoring the struggle within his listener in his apparent ambition to rid himself of the secret. “What mattered more, was Lucia.”

_“-can you hear me?” Pegasus asked, his eyes both red and golden sliding over and over to the spot he swore the turbaned man had been, just a moment ago, but his hands catching on the girl’s shoulders, gently trying to pull her up from her curled crouch. “Can you get up? Are you hurt?” He couldn’t be sure, since her long golden hair had come loose from its earlier braid and sprawled out over her back and blocked her face from view. But the cracked open floor just inches from her knee was telling enough on its own, as was the fact the girl had **definitely** not been in that room when he had come through the first time, nor the second, nor the fifth._

_Still getting no answer Pegasus turned to the power that was already becoming second nature to him, seeking to scan her mind for memories of what had happened, of a potential accident._

_But instead of discovering the inner works of a familiar mind, bright and curious and moist with grief, a bright, harsh light crashed through Pegasus’s mind like thunder. He cried out, jolted away from the girl to reach for his Eye, covering the vibrating, aching gold with his palm as he stared open-mouthed at the girl._

_Finally she moved. Sat up and turned her head just enough to look back at him through the long tangled locks of her hair… To stare back, a dark weight in her young grey eyes that made his stomach twist in, of all things, **fear**._

“It wasn’t hate I saw in her eyes, nor anger or judgment,” Pegasus clarified, but where the man had seemingly relaxed into the role of storyteller of his own past, Atem sat frozen, his own gaze pinned to the unconscious patient with a shock and suspicion he had thought would never be necessary again. “It was… _Sadness_. I don’t know how to describe it, like she was looking at someone wasting away… Or, was it, writing their own tragedy, right before her eyes?” He said it ironically, Atem was sure of it, but he himself knew better. Knew all that the girl had known ahead of time- _Apparently_ had learned there on that day, as a young girl. For Pegasus would have seen his own future in her mind if she had already known, right? And, after…

“I couldn’t stand it after that,” Pegasus said, all but whispering the words that prompted Atem to turn his gaze his way even as tense alarm still shone in his own deep maroon eyes. “Being around her… Seeing the way she looked at me. And the fact that the Eye wouldn’t work on her, no matter how I tried- It frightened me. I didn’t understand it, and I feared she might prove a threat to my plans somehow. And I certainly didn’t think she would approve of my methods. So… Perhaps it was cowardice as much as practicality, but when she asked me if she could live in Egypt, by herself, at _eleven_ , I agreed… Even here, right next to the ruins, she seemed less of a threat to me than she would be, at my own side.”

The regret was tangible in his voice, as was the stale confusion, but Atem couldn’t bring himself to speak even then. For idea that she might have known Shadi before was _nothing_ next to the revelation that something kept even the Millennium Eye from touching her mind- From uncovering the secrets held within.

And as Pegasus trailed on, as if in afterthought, that “It was only after _that_ \- her disappearance in the ruins, that she insisted on going by ‘Jeu’” Atem could only silently wonder why the more he learned about the girl, the more the truth of her seemed shrouded in shadows.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I must give a warning. I am not including it in the tag warnings yet, but this chapter does introduce a new, non-canon CONTROVERSIAL CONCEPT. I don’t think it should be a trigger for anyone in this chapter, but I did want to acknowledge it right off the bat. If anyone has trouble with this particular twist I will be happy to discuss it (within bounds of not spoiling the story, of course) but I just wanted to say that it is not a red herring, and I won’t blame anyone who chooses to jump ship over it. And I don’t think I need to explain it any further than that – you’ll likely know it when you see it – so that being said… On with the chapter!

“And here we are,” Pegasus announced as they climbed out of the limo. “The Luxor Museum.”

And so it was- A grand, large building of warm stone and sharp lines, long narrow slits in the walls and a shorter glass building marking its entrance. Atem had already heard something of the place from Bakura, who had visited along with their other friends. The white-haired teen had shared little about it save vague wonder and praise... Still, the pharaoh felt little beyond dread as he eyed the building, wary as he wondered what relics the museum displayed, what secrets he might - or worse, might _not_ \- uncover within its walls.

“Wait for us out here, Crocketts- I will call if we need you,” Pegasus said to the man who had been holding the car door open, and Atem shut his eyes against the man’s voice. It had certainly not been his preference to make that trip with _Pegasus_ , but he couldn't exactly argue when the card game creator showed up at the hospital the afternoon he was finally released. Three days, a dozen doctors, and twice as many tests later, the medical team was no closer to understanding what was wrong with him, or the still comatose Jeu, but no one could argue that he had recovered enough to go home… Or at least, home as he knew it in Luxor.

He had let the others know he had been released the moment he was told, and then immediately called Isis so he could meet her at the museum before even going back to the apartments. But apparently Mana had passed along word to _Pegasus_ of all people - not that Atem could blame _Mana_ for the innocent slip when _he_ still refused to fill her in on what was going on, much less his history with the card game creator. All the same, though, Atem had kicked himself for saying anything when he came down to the hospital lobby and found _Pegasus_ waiting for him, offering him a ride.

How could he refuse?

Isis came through the glass doors just as Atem and Pegasus approached the building, as though she had been standing there awaiting their arrival all along. “Hello, Pharaoh. I’m glad to see you are well- Malik led me to believe you were in quite a state.”

“Clearly you didn’t see him a few days ago,” Pegasus said, cutting in before Atem could fully form his own reply.

Isis’s smile twitched with something, less certain as her attention turned on the silver-haired man. “Pegasus Crawford- You are welcome, of course, but I must I am surprised to see you joining us today.”

“Well, I couldn’t resist a chance see what you had uncovered for myself- And can you blame me for taking an opportunity to better understand what is happening? What Lucia got mixed up in?”

Isis remained composed through the explanation turned questioning, but there was no missing how she struggled to find a response. But rather than acknowledge the argument himself, Atem drew their attentions to him with an unrelated “So, you found the chest? The one from the vision?”

“-yes,” Isis answered, blinking passed the awkward tension in an instant as she turned to guide them into the building, speaking over her shoulder as they crossed through a lobby gift shop, already closed for the day with the lights dimmed. “I contacted the curator, Amir Hatim, as soon as you told me about it. He has been unpacking the items from your tomb for display in a museum exhibition alongside the contents of some other collections, and I asked him to keep an eye out for the chest while he worked. He should be just- Ah.”

She stalled just as they stepped into a long, darkly tiled hallway, artifacts of all shapes and sizes shining under display lights and behind glass. Atem's attention was certainly caught by the collection, but he didn't understand why Isis had stopped until he followed her gaze in one direction and saw a trio of adults walking their way. And- And one of them was-

“Well, you’re looking better,” Akram observed as he stepped to the front of the approaching group, smiling at the taken aback Atem before focusing on Pegasus. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming by? I would have arranged to stay longer.”

“I’m very sorry, Akram. Bit of a last minute decision, you know,” Pegasus apologized, though the lack of real regret in his voice prompted Atem to glance suspiciously his way before speaking up himself.

“Are you going home?”

“Oh no-,” Akram said, chuckling lightly before looking back, gesturing the pair still hanging back to come closer. “I need to take a look at Salma’s latest find… Ah, excuse me- _This_ is Salma Fida, one of my department’s finest archaeologists.”

“Flattery isn’t going to get you out of a ride to the site tonight, Khalil-san,” said the sole lady of the trio, a small woman with laughing brown eyes and violet waves twisted in a knot over one dark shoulder. Atem stifled it as best he could, but he couldn’t deny some shock at hearing what she was. Going by the way she carried herself and the prim but stylish blue dress she wore, he would have pegged her as another senior museum employee, or even a council member. She certainly smiled like someone experienced at talking into a microphone for a camera crew or a large crowd. And the surprises kept coming as she focused on Isis and went on in flawless Japanese. “Good evening- I am sorry for stealing Khalil-san away if you needed to speak, but I am certain Amir can help you with anything you will need for your research.”

“Don’t go making promises for me I might not keep, Salma.” The protest was quiet, stumbling through the language where the lady had smoothly skated. But the third speaker’s voice was still filled with warmth and humor, and prompted the archaeologist to look back and share a soft smile with the final member of the trio. Atem felt awkward even witnessing it.

The last man was far less imposing and important looking beside the elegant lady and Akram, but he still looked the part of a proper curator, slim spectacles covering his black eyes and framed in a blue that perfectly matched his slicked back hair. Dark fingers reached up and tightened a golden tie before he stepped straight up to Atem and offered the same hand in greeting. “It’s good to meet you. I am Amir Hatim- Ishtar-san tells me you are here to take a look at one of the items recovered from the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh?”

“-that’s right,” Atem answered as he shook hands with the man, his features schooled into flat neutrality against the surrealism that struck him at that simple question.

Akram’s attention slid back to Atem and hung on him curiously, apparently intrigued by the discussion, but Salma startled him out of whatever he was thinking with a firm “Then, I think that’s our queue to leave.”

“-yes,” Akram agreed, shaking his head a touch before smiling at them each in turn. “Another time, then.”

Atem wasn’t certain what he meant, but he had no time to ask before he and Salma went one direction, and Amir waved them to walk in another, giving a polite “Follow me, if you please” as he led the way.

And before Atem could think to ask questions himself, Isis beat him to it, moving up to his free side with a confused frown and a quiet word. “Pharaoh, you know Akram Khalil?”

“I met him back at the hospital the other day- He came in with Pegasus.” The answer prompted Isis to focus her stare over his head towards the named man, but Pegasus simply looked right back at her with his own curious, arched brow. Atem jumped in before either could pose a comment to the other. “-how do you know him?”

“-why, Akram Khalil is the head of the Egyptology department for the Supreme Council of Antiquities,” Isis answered, seeming astonished that he need ask. “I may direct it now, but he has been with the council far longer than I, at least a decade. He even served as the Secretary General himself for a couple of years, long before I joined. He was one of my primary mentors when I earned the chair… Did you truly not know?”

“-Pegasus didn’t see fit to share,” he answered dryly, giving the man a scathing side glance for his silence, which Atem now saw must have been nothing more than a tease, as Pegasus _must_ have known he would find out eventually.

Indeed, there was neither shock nor contrition in his one eye as Pegasus smiled at them, dodging their try to pin him down by speaking to their guide. “So we are here to see a special chest?”

“Yes,” Amir answered, glancing back with his own sheen of confusion before focusing forward again as he lead them to a door that read ‘Staff Only’ and took out a key, opening and holding the door for the rest of them. The room beyond was large, crates and desks and piles of books bordering it but with a wide path in the middle clearing the way to another exit. Atem stalled and looked about as the rest came after him and Amir went on talking. “Except that I did not know it was a chest until Ishtar-san described it as such to me. It certainly looks like one, but there is no noticeable latch or cut for a lid on it, and I had no luck when I searched for one yesterday. I didn’t want to force it, certainly, but all of the research notes I have on the collection mention nothing about it being capable of opening, either, or what may be inside… Not even in your _own_ notes, Ishtar-san.”

“No,” Isis answered, sounding almost chagrined though a glance in her direction showed she was displaying nothing on her face beyond her usual serious composure. “My focus was elsewhere when I inventoried to findings- I honestly barely remember the chest.”

“That is no surprise. It’s small, and certainly not the most impressive piece taken from the tomb,” Amir allowed as he shut the door behind her, locking it again with a shy, hesitant “Though, I confess, when you told me there was something inside, I couldn’t fight the urge to shake it lightly, just to check. It’s a sturdy piece, after all, and wasn’t damaged by it… And, indeed, I swore I could hear _something_ moving inside of it.”

 _Yes_ , Atem thought grimly, and he was quite certain he knew what ‘it’ was, and exactly what it looked like… He just had no idea yet what purpose it served. Was it a key of some sort, to some other item or place? Did it hold power like the Millennium Items? Would he recognize it once he held it, and know what to do, or would he be fated to stumble blindly forward again until the next step presented itself- _If_ it presented itself?

He didn’t know, and he wouldn’t until he saw the thing for himself, but he couldn’t help but stall a step when Amir gestured across the room to the other exit. “Everything from the tomb is being unpacked in there.” Everything from his own tomb… That would include his body, wouldn’t it? Atem couldn’t say he was _frightened_ to see it. Not long ago he had been perfectly aware and at peace with the reality that he was, indeed, dead- Should not be walking around the living world at all, in any capacity. But he couldn’t deny a certain hesitance at the thought of looking at it, and he only managed to shake it off and rush to catch up after Pegasus looked curiously back at him.

He would do nothing by delaying the inevitable, or fearing simple reality.

Except, despite rushing enough that he caught up to Isis at the front of the group, they were both stalled against their own will when they came up to the exit and found themselves blocked by metal, sliding gates with crisscrossing bars and a lock on one end- No, _two gates_ , one in front of the other, with a small space between, like glass doors at a department store.

“-ah, my apologies,” Amir said as he came up behind them with Pegasus. “Given the value of the collection, we don’t want just any staff members to have access to this- Not until it’s fully unpacked and put on display where the security can keep an eye on it.”

“Of course,” Isis allowed, stepping back so that Amir could reach the lock. The gate gave a harsh squeak as it retracted that made Atem flinch, but in the motion he noticed something strange. He could see something of the room beyond, with the first gate no longer in the way, and he could make out more crates, large golden items, and-

“What is that on the floor?” he asked, blinking against his initial conclusion that it was a thick layer of straw. That didn’t make sense, why would it be-

“Tinder,” Amir said, and before Atem could fully comprehend the word, much less the meaning, Amir reached out and pushed him, making him stumble backwards into Pegasus as the curator stepped between the barriers- And slammed the first shut behind him.

“Hatim?!” Isis cried, shock running through her voice as Pegasus helped right the boy king who had fallen into his grip. “What are you doing?!”

Amir didn’t answer, reaching through the barrier to lock the gate behind him, ‘trapping’ him between the two, but Atem… He was steady on his feet again, but he felt like he had lost his heart in the stumble. For one look at those blank, black eyes again and he was back- Back in that dungeon cell, peering through bars at a stranger, and-

“It’s you-” he whispered, drawing baffled stares from Isis and Pegasus but he didn’t look back, his gazed pinned on the man who had gone still between the barriers, both hands limp at his sides. “How- How did you possess _him_ , too?!”

“Not quite,” Amir whispered, and to Atem’s increasing confusion it still didn’t sound like _Him_. Had that simply been how Banoub had sounded, possessed by The Devourer? But, no- When Amir finally focused on him again his eyes were grim, as sad as they were pitying. Those weren’t the eyes of a monster. “He has my hands- My feet. Holds my tongue- But he doesn’t have my voice. Not yet.”

“-oh no,” Isis whispered, dread staining her face as awareness began to strike Pegasus’s own features.

“ _This_ is the enemy you spoke of?”

But Atem couldn’t answer him, not while he looked at Amir and a black, chilling revelation hit him. The Devourer’s possession was not the simple stealing of consciousness he had assumed, the victim senseless to his own body and its actions. Amir was _aware_ , watching his own hands move against his leave.

Atem struggled to swallow back the knot that had come up in his throat, and asked, “What has he done to you, Amir?”

The curator was silent for so long, staring beyond them at nothing, that Atem feared his tongue had indeed been held again. But finally Amir spoke, quiet and breathless, the sound making Atem shiver and back tense until it hurt. “He whispers to me… Says I am his to use, makes me remember things that never happened to me- Not in this life.” Atem blinked into a frown at that, taking a second, critical look at the man… But no. However much he stared at Amir- Even when the curator looked up and met his gaze, he did not recognize him. Could he be yet another ghost from the pharaoh’s past, but not one he had ever seen, or remembered? He could not say, and he couldn’t read any recognition in Amir’s own eyes as the curator went on. “He says I have to duel you, with the duel disks he made me hide- There, behind that crate.”

Atem’s gaze followed Amir’s to the named spot, and indeed he could see a bundle of sheets just behind it. Before he could move to check and see if there was indeed anything beneath it, though, Pegasus interrupted his step with a question of his own.

“And what if he refuses?”

Atem paused and glanced back, watched Amir take in Pegasus and his challenging stare… And despite the fact that he had already put together the ‘what if’ for himself given to the ‘tinder’ on the floor, his gut still somersaulted against his ribs as when Amir reached into a pocket and pulled out a box of matches, holding it before him with a look of pure misery on his face.

No one said anything as they stared at the box. They didn’t have to.

“-I'll do it,” Atem finally managed, jolting out of his frozen stillness on a sudden fear that Amir might take his silence as a no. Thankfully not- Amir’s hands lowered to his sides along with the matchbox, and Atem rushed to retrieve the duel disks that were indeed just there, beneath the sheets. But, finding _three_ there, he remembered what Banoub had demanded, before- And what had been willing to bend within him turned to steel once more. He returned, handed one of the disks to the man between the bars, but the pharaoh did so while frowning at him, unblinking. Even recognizing what he might lose if the man lit a match and drowned his remains and the pendant in flames, Atem couldn’t help but insist, to _try_ and stare down the monster hidden behind Amir’s eyes. “But I want to fight _alone_.”

“That is not an option,” Amir said with no inflection, not even looking at him as he took the disk and set it on his arm, reaching for a deck of cards in his pocket as Atem snapped.

“But why?! He said he just needed me to ‘put the knife to my own throat’ didn’t He? I don’t need a… A, a _partner_ for that!” he spit out with misplaced rage and grief. “What difference does it make if I want to take the risk of dueling al-”

“Because he wants you to suffer.”

The simple, flat, hollow answer smacked Atem harder than any sneer or taunt could. Because there was no hiding from it- Staring at the dead-eyed man, he could not deny or fight the fact. There was no threatening or bribing or bartering The Devourer out of this… He just, wanted to hurt him.

“Pharaoh,” Isis said, drawing Atem's numb gaze to the woman. He stared into her offer like an oncoming freight train. “If you will allow me-”

“I will do it,” Pegasus cut in, prompting Atem and Isis to both blink at him. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he couldn’t help it- He was still thrown, struck silent in the face of Pegasus’s cool, insisting stare. “I wasn’t here to do anything before. Don’t take the chance from me now.” And without asking or even gesturing first, he took one of the duel disks from Atem’s numb fingers, stepping up to face the mute man behind the bars as he pulled out his own cards. “Besides, I want to see this ‘Devourer’ for myself.”

-if he had truly had a choice, Atem might have denied him. But, however he struggled to swallow it, the truth was he was, once again, trapped. And the closest thing he could find to control in the situation was simply to accept, respect Pegasus’s desire without protest. Shutting his eyes against the roiling frustration within him until it slid away, he put the last duel disk on his arm with no more than a quiet “So be it.”

The second he pushed his cards into the disk slot, the worst form of déjà vu struck him. The room rolled into shadow, everything erased by darkness until the one hundred-and-sixty candles of black and white burst into light, and Atem could see- His own hands, Pegasus to his right, Amir and a black shadow of him beyond the bars… The newest incarnation of The Devourer only just opening its familiar ice-blue eyes. The only differences from last time were who he was dueling with, and against, the ‘Sacrifice’ Amir was silent where Banoub had been shaking, and-

“-Isis?” Looking back, Atem realized she _was_ still there, staring at them in shock and growing alarm. But she was half-hidden beyond a filmy sheen of shadow, seemingly unaware of it as she spoke- And no words reached his ears, no sound cutting through the dim veil. “What's happened to her?!”

“Why, nothing.” It was _Him_. Slowly turning around, Atem locked eyes with that shadow being, once again… Except it wasn't _Him_ , not the 'Shade' he had seen in the dungeon. And it wasn't just the fact that his silhouette mirrored Amir, instead of Banoub. The very way he held himself was different, the laid-back arrogance of the dungeon replaced but a solid, patient stillness. And even as he leered at the pharaoh, answered with false comfort and sugared threats that “She is simply being held in 'limbo'- She will be fine… As long as you win” he offered no grins, cackles, or laughing glances. He was completely at ease, serious, stoic as he awaited battle.

The shift was beyond jarring, but not knowing to notice it Pegasus spoke up without pause, keeping his gaze pinned on their opponents even as he spoke to Atem. “I don't know what's going on… But I take it this magic is similar to what the Items were capable of? What we used during our own duel? -as dangerous?”

“Similar.” It was easier to allow for the similarities than insist on the differences, and he rushed through the vital facts as well as he could, putting his weight back on one foot as he fell into the familiar stance of a duel. “If we lose life points, we lose candles. If we lose them all, we lose. And die. Lose all the whites and some blacks, we end up like Jeu.”

“So that's how it happened…” Pegasus said, so quietly Atem actually blinked his gaze off of their opponents to glance his way and look for visual confirmation he had spoken at all. But there was nothing to read on the man's face, half-blocked by his hair and flickering in the candlelight, so all the pharaoh could do was watch as Pegasus drew five cards, plus one. “I hope no one minds, then, if I make the first move?”

* * *

“I sacrifice Big Shield Gardna to summon Dark Magician Girl.”

“ _Oh_ , look at that- We have a matching pair!”

Atem said nothing, simply tossed Pegasus a long side stare for the observation. He had certainly not been intending to ‘match’ the man by summoning the original form of the toon already on Pegasus’s end of the field, that was for certain. And while they had managed to get through the first few turns without taking any damage, it was still certainly no time for jokes. But snapping at his partn- …ally, would serve nothing, especially when Atem could sense it was nothing more than a light front on Pegasus’s part.

So Atem simply blinked back into focus and continued on with his play. “I then equip her with Big Bang Shot, giving her not only piercing damage but 400 extra attack points.” Pausing, he looked from one opponent to the other. Their flat expressions were an exact match, but where he saw pained resignation in Amir’s golden eyes he saw only blackness in the cold blues of The Devourer. The pharaoh had been largely focusing his attacks up to then on the shadowed figure, but he had been paid only bitter desserts for his efforts. Where The Devourer had defended himself smoothly with face-down monster after monster, springing them like traps in Atem’s face, Amir had used the opening to build up a monster of his own- Horus the Black Flame Dragon. A monster it soon became clear could go stronger- Level up. Atem hadn’t been prepared for the memories that sprang up in his mind upon comprehending that, clogging up his throat until he swallowed them back and pressed forward. No, his problem of the moment was deciding, should he keep pressing on as he had, ignoring the reluctant sacrifice in favor of the shade?

He couldn’t. Loathe as he was to do it, he read the field as it stood and knew that he couldn’t let Amir make that dragon any stronger.

“Battle Phase- Dark Magician Girl, take out Horus the Black Flame Dragon,” he proclaimed, trying to press back the guilt with the reassurance that it would only cost Amir 100 life points. One candle.

“Trap activated,” Amir said, cutting through the pharaoh’s inner conflict with the flip of a card. “Scrap-Iron Scarecrow. Dark Magician Girl’s attack is negated, and I flip the trap back down rather than discard it.”

-which meant he could use it again, if attacked again on another turn. And Atem had no other monsters to play, so all he could do was end his turn, mentally struggling to come to terms with his mixed dread and relief.

“That would make it _my turn_ again, then,” all but whispered the shadowed creature, and Atem had to grit his teeth against the urge to respond. There was just something so much _worse_ about him this time. He was acting so differently – _oddly_ differently – but the natural threat of him had somehow only been increased by how quiet he was, how noncommittal… As if he need not even bother taunting the pharaoh to make him squirm or suffer. And Atem certainly wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of being right!

“First I flip my trap – Call of the Haunted – to summon back Alexandrite Dragon.” And the shimmering silver dragon was back- A monster of 2000 ATK that Atem and Pegasus had defeated _twice_ already! It stood back on its haunches and roared even as The Devourer added a second dragon to field. “I normal summon Infernal Dragon, as well. Then I play Double Summon, to allow me to normal summon a second monster. And finally, using Cost Down, I lower the level of the monster in my hand. Thanks to that, I only need _one_ tribute- And I chose to sacrifice my face-down monster to bring out Dark Horus.”

The darkness churned as a black dragon appeared- A larger counterpart to the half-grown, silver Horus the Black Flame Dragon on Amir’s side of the field. Atem could feel his very fingers vibrating with its step before it took off and hovered in the air above them. Staring up into its red eyes, he wondered at the meaning- Was this a true card, or simply a shadowed conjuring of the leveling monster Amir used? He might well have asked Pegasus about it, as he would surely know if it were a true monster of the game or not, but there was no time before The Devourer sped forward into the battle phase.

“Dark Horus, destroy Pegasus Crawford’s Toon Goblin Attack Force.”

Atem had to cover his eyes against the red light that spewed forth and destroyed the monster, the move followed in quick succession by an attack by Infernal Dragon against Toon Dark Magician Girl – which lead to the destruction of both – and finally Alexandrite Dragon moved against the player himself.

“Pegasus!” the pharaoh yelled, watching as Pegasus fell nearly onto his face and twenty-seven of his candles went out. Pegasus didn’t answer beyond one gruesome, ugly hack, and while he could not see his face, Atem flinched against the sound of it, unable to erase the certainty that he heard blood in that cough.

“I then use Monster Reborn to bring Horus’ Servant back to the field, which protects Horus the Black Flame Dragon from harm, and end my turn.” And with that, silence fell… All awaiting Pegasus to respond. But while he had not fully collapsed, he also did not rise, hovering on his knees until The Devourer broke the silence with an almost _bored_ “It is your turn, Pegasus Crawford. Make your move… Unless you cannot. In that case, you will automatically forfeit, and lose your-”

“What is wrong with you?!” Atem snapped. The move had been nothing more than a stall, protection for the struggling Pegasus, but finding The Devourer’s empty blue eyes on him the pharaoh took the opening, throwing the question that had been plaguing him for the whole duel in the shade’s face. “Why are you like this?! You… You are completely different from when we met in the dungeon!”

“That must be because he is _my_ shadow” came the unexpected response, not from The Devourer, but from Amir. It was soft, dizzy, nearly inaudible, but still unmistakable- Especially when The Devourer’s gaze slid to the man in answer, burning with a clear want to silence him. The look brought back a clear memory in Atem’s mind, of Banoub cowering in the face of a single glance from his own shade. But Amir barely reacted, looking at the dark creature with an air that was somehow as defiant as it was resigned. It was strangely impressive in Atem’s eyes, and apparently he wasn’t the only one to notice.

“No, Amir has never been as easy to cow as Tariq,” The Devourer murmured, sounding almost wistful with the claim as he spoke. “This one has a stronger will. You cannot imagine, the force it takes to make him even _threaten_ to burn his precious museum… But then, I have been with him _far_ longer than Tariq. I have had the time to learn which strings to pull.”

“-what do you mean?” Atem asked, looking from one face to the other. “Tariq Banoub died just a few days ago. How could you have been with Amir Hatim longer?”

“I only heard his voice whispering to me four days ago,” Amir answered, still staring at the nothing over Atem’s shoulder – Or was it at Isis, still frozen in the shadows? – rather than looking him in the eyes. “But, I think he’s been with me longer… Much longer… There, in the shadows of my mind, all along.”

“Of your _soul_ ,” The Devourer corrected, every intention to censure and silence the curator apparently abandoned, perhaps simply given up. No, if anything he seemed to revel in the chance to speak openly, and finally Atem thought he saw some of the same amusement from the dungeons shining through in his chilled smile. “Amir has been _mine_ for thousands of years, ever since his grand vizier Ay blasphemed by praying to me for his death, so that _he_ could take the crown of Egypt for himself.” An empty, low chuckle bubbled out of his black chest to settle in Atem’s own ear like a rock, but he couldn’t even flinch against the sensation as he reeled in revelation and confusion. The crown of… Amir was pharaoh of Egypt? _Had_ been? “And so I granted his wish. I took on the form of a snake and spooked the pharaoh’s horse in the midst of a battle.”

“I fell off of my chariot,” Amir all but whispered, staring on into the shadows and seeing a past long gone. “My leg broke- It was days before I finally died… I did not remember, not until _He_ began to speak to me, days ago, whispering to me, telling me to do things I did not wish to, and then claiming my hands when I refused.”

“Yes… And Ay would not have fought me so if I had claimed _him_ instead, I am sure of it,” The Devourer said, though there was no true regret or frustration in his glance. “But he was weak- I wanted _strong_ souls, ones that I could bend to my will without them breaking to useless pieces in my hands. -but it was only a precaution, then. A lark, to own the soul of a pharaoh… I did not yet know that _another_ would come along and _put himself in my way_.”

The urge to ask _which_ king Amir had been died on Atem’s tongue as those eyes fixed on him, the hatred in them so cold he could swear his blood would freeze. Before he could discover the truth of it or not, though, the moment was broken.

“-I summon Toon Masked Sorcerer in attack mode,” Pegasus said, sounding winded from the mere effort of standing and playing the card, much less staying upright as their collective attention returned to him. “Then I set four cards face down… And end my turn.”

He had done it. Atem had nearly forgotten his very intention amid the revelations unexpectedly shared, but still he had succeeded in stalling long enough for Pegasus to get through his turn. And it was now Amir’s… The duel back in motion as the sacrifice drew his own card, considered his hand, and moved. “I summon Alexandrite Dragon in attac-”

“So sorry,” Pegasus interrupted, flipping the first of his many cards over… Followed immediately by a second. “Bottomless Trap Hole destroys your dragon upon summoning. And, while we’re at it, I play Compulsory Evacuation Device to send Horus the Black Flame Dragon back to your hand.”

Amir frowned, but said not a word of protest as he sent one dragon directly to the graveyard and took the other off of the field, leaving his side of the field bare save for a pair of facedown cards he played before ending his turn with a murmur.

That meant it was _Atem’s_ turn again. He scanned his hand, weighing his options. He had a few cards, but nothing strong enough to take out Dark Horus. Not directly, at least… But-

“I play the spell card Fusion,” he proclaimed, unsurprised as The Devourer instantly responded with a play of his own.

“Then I used Dark Horus’s special effect to summon a level four dark monster- I choose Rare Metal Dragon.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Atem countered as another dragon appeared on the field, not even blinking in the face of its 2400 attack points. “For I fuse Dark Magician Girl and Dwarf Star Dragon Planetar from my hand into Dark Magician Girl the Dragon Knight!” And finally one of the dragons was on _his_ side, roaring as his faithful friend’s spirit monster perched on its back. The fusion monster’s effect would allow him to destroy as many cards on the field as Atem was willing to discard from his own hand, granting him the chance he needed to gain the upper hand.

Before he could proclaim the first discard and destruction, though, Amir flipped his own card. “I activate Solemn Notice. I pay 1500 life points, and your summon is negated.”

Atem’s hand beneath the duel disk clenched into a fist, but otherwise he kept his reaction under wraps, his jaw tight against any words as the fused monster disappeared… And fifteen of Amir’s candles went out. The man’s breath noticeably, loudly caught, and Atem could swear his face had actually gone pale, but it was difficult to tell in the dim, flickering light. Either way, his reaction was shockingly stoic and it took a couple seconds before Atem shook himself out of staring at the man and looked down at his hand again. He had few options left… And he was loath to try the play again, but... Bracing himself for the pain, he played the card.

“I activate Dark Magic Curtain, paying 2000 life points to summon Dark Magician to the field.”

“As you like,” The Devourer said, pulling another card from his deck and summoning it to the field. “That’s just another Rare Metal Dragon for me, thanks to your spell and Dark Horus’s effect.”

“And it’s pointless,” Amir said, his response hollow where The Devourer’s had been bored. “I activate Solemn Warning… I pay 2000 life points myself, and your spell is negated.”

Atem didn’t even have time to react, the pain already wracking through his body and making it a struggle to even stay on his feet. It was only after the darkness stopped spinning around him, and he found the will to truly push back the bile in his throat, that the pharaoh understood that Amir had been struck by the same pain. But where Atem had lost _only_ his white candles, all but _five_ of Amir’s black flames were gone. The man was kneeling on the ground, half-keeled over… But still shakily staying upright, even keeping his duel disk half-aloft before him… And Atem felt like he might vomit all over again when he realized that blood was dripping down Amir’s face, staining the cards on the disk.

“If you are done, little king,” The Devourer whispered, leering at him like he was less than an insect, and worth even less of his time. “End your turn.”

“…no,” Atem gasped, struggling to steady his hands, but just managing to make a final play. “I set one face down card… And since it is the last… In my hand… I can summon Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight… And I attack, your Horus’ Servant!”

-it shouldn’t have been so satisfying, seeing the attack connect. He knew he shouldn’t be seeing crisp, warm red when the monster disappeared and twenty-two of The Devourer’s candles were snuffed out as one. But he did- He _ached_ to see that shadow crumble, endure the same suffering he put them through, ally and enemy alike!

But… Though the shadow shut his eyes and flickered in the darkness along with his candles, he said not a word… Showed _nothing_ beyond a clear potential for disappearing. When he opened his eyes once more, there was no pain in them at all! And before Atem could swallow his disappointment – much less come to terms with it and the trailing shame – The Devourer spoke. “Was that the end of your turn? …yes? In that case, I go straight into my battle phase, and attack Pegasus Crawford’s Toon Masked Sorcerer.”

“-I won’t let you,” Atem managed to get out, flipping the card he had just set. “I activate Mirror Force- Dark Horus and all of your other monsters are destroyed!”

“Nice try,” The Devourer answered, turning over a card of his own. “I activate Solemn Judgment, using half of my life points to block Mirror Force. The attack still stands.”

Atem’s heart withered as he realized he had been blocked again… And this time it would mean Pegasus’s life, as all of his life points and candles would be lost with the monster. But, before he could fully collapse with his failure, Pegasus cut off his own fall.

“Thank you, Atem- That was just the opening I needed.” The words were weak, gasped, but steady with truth as Pegasus played his own counter. “I activate Changing Destiny. Not only does it negate Dark Horus’s attack, but the attacker has to make a choice. Either I _gain_ half of Dark Horus’s attack points in life points… Or you _lose_ them!”

Atem’s eyes went wide and stuck that way as he did the math, and realized- That was 1500 LP! And The Devourer had dropped down to only 900 when he activated Solemn Judgment… That meant that he would lose the duel if he chose to take the damage! His only option was to grant Pegasus the life points- And push him back well over the 2000 LP danger point in the bargain!

But… As Atem processed the unexpected windfall, realizing that Pegasus would not only live but come out of the duel safely if they managed to win fast, The Devourer had gone quiet… So quiet, for so long, that it broke through to the pharaoh’s notice. It couldn’t have just been that the shade was considering the move… He must realize the necessity of his choice by then.

Finally, though, he spoke- No more than a bare whisper. “I will take the damage.”

“-what?” Pegasus said, his expression frozen in confused denial where Atem’s collapsed into full incredulous rage.

“-why?! Why would you-” before he could even fully get out the question, though, the pharaoh choked on it, the memory of Amir’s words coming back to him with the slap of ice water.

_He wants to make you suffer._

“-no,” he gasped, quiet as a breath.

“Oh, but _yes_ , little king,” The Devourer said, his lips curling in a vile grin as the last of his candles went out- And he himself disappeared with the last of the black flames, his last word nothing but an invasive breeze in their ears. “ _Congratulations_.”

“-no!!” Atem yelled again, but it was useless- The duel was over. They had won.

The remaining candles disappeared in the light that suddenly burst to life, pushing back the shadows until they rolled away like a dark, receding tide, leaving the museum storage room in its wake. And there was Isis, stumbling but safe at his shoulder, gasping for air as if she had just breached the surface of the ocean.

“Pharaoh… Are you alright? Is anyone-” But she need not finish the question, and he need not answer, for the room clanged with the sound of reverberating metal as Amir fell within the confines of the barriers, his duel disk slamming against the bars.

“Amir-” Atem called, his alarm strangled by his own dizziness as he watched the curator raise his head and struggle to speak.

“Thank you,” he whispered, the words barely audible across the distance. Even that much was clearly a struggle, blood trailing from the edge of his mouth as he swallowed and tried again. “Please… Tell Salma- Tell her I… That I… I am………” No more. Amir said nothing else, his untainted golden eyes falling shut as he leaned forward- And collapsed fully against the bars.

“Hatim!” Isis called, but to no avail. He wouldn’t answer.

“-go to him,” Atem said, bracing himself to keep his expression steady as he locked eyes with the Ishtar. “I need to know- Banoub died, but he lost all of his life points. Amir didn’t. Is he-”

“I’ll check,” she answered, hovering for one reluctant moment beside the pharaoh before abandoning him to approach the bars.

With her attention elsewhere, Atem turned his focus on the man no more than a few feet from him, silent since the duel ended and the shadows receded. Pegasus was still standing, but Atem knew better… The candles had not lied before, and he couldn’t quite manage surprise when Pegasus finally collapsed down to his knees, struggling to keep himself from falling completely with the support of a shaky arm.

“You-” Atem started, stopping long enough to give a few hard blinks against his blurred vision, the threat that he might fall to the floor as well all too near. “You shouldn’t die, but you lost too many lights. You’re going to slip away, into yourself.”

“Just like Lucia?” Atem didn’t answer, letting the silence hang in answer until Pegasus managed to find his voice again, rubbing a sleeve against his face that came away blood red. “You… you came here for a reason, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” Atem whispered, struggling to find the words- To even remember fully as his mind went slowly numb. “We- I need to find the chest- In that room behind Amir.”

“Then what are you doing here?” Pegasus’s voice had gone sharp, irritated, and only grew more so as Atem met his gaze with confusion. “This room- if one of us dies- Even if _none_ of us die, it might become a crime scene. You’ll be cut off from it- Are you planning to let all of this be in vain?”

Atem stared down at the man, struck silent, until Isis interrupted the moment by coming back, grim but still frazzled with potential action. “He is breathing, but he won’t last like this.” Looking beyond her shoulder, Atem saw that she had gotten Amir out from behind the barrier, the keys still stuck in the lock while the man was propped up against the wall just beside the doorway, a thin trail of blood marking the distance Isis had dragged him in the short moment Atem and Pegasus had spoken. “-to think, that the quiet curator of the Luxor Museum was once Tutankhamen.”

“What?” Atem asked, dumb in the face of the sudden but oh so famous name, but when he looked back to Isis she only shook her head. “The grand vizier- Apparently you couldn’t hear me, but I heard all that as said during the duel, including that Amir was once a pharaoh with a grand vizier named Ay. Ay was the right hand man of Tutankhamen, and claimed his throne and sister-wife Ankhesenamun after he died… Apparently after Ay killed him, through The Devourer.”

So that was it. Yet, even with that mystery unexpected solved in such a grandiose fashion, all that the pharaoh could see when he settled his gaze back on the unconscious figure was a small, broken man, who spent his last conscious moments struggling to relay a message to the person Atem could only assume he loved.

“I must call for an ambulance. Pharaoh, will you stay-”

“Of course,” he interrupted, and with that Isis moved without another word, rushing to make up the lost time and get them the help they needed. Amir and Pegasus would both need help… And Atem could feel the threat that he would join them in every breath he took. If he didn’t hurry, he would lose the chance he had.

“Go on,” Pegasus urged, as though reading his thoughts, and Atem shared one last, silent, heavy glance with the sinking man before leaving his side, passing the collapsed Amir, grabbing the keys from the first gate, and using them to open the second.

The unlocking had been a struggle with shaking hands, and any sense of success Atem had felt for getting through died on the vine when he saw what lay beyond the barrier. The room was even larger than the last, and filled to the brim with crate after crate, shining gold and large artifacts breaking up the sea of wooden brown. How… How could he possibly search through all of it before the medics arrived, or his own health failed him?

The task was beyond daunting, but desperation fractured through Atem’s determination as he moved thoughtlessly forward. He _had_ to find it. He _could not_ waste the chance given to him! The fact that it looked near impossible _would not stop him_.

While logic would dictate that Amir had simply unboxed the chest upon finding it earlier, leaving it out even as he never intended to bring Atem to it, it still felt like his very will had conjured the thing into being when he turned a corner and found the shining chest just there, at his elbow. The sight froze him in his tracks, the fact that it was _just_ as he had seen it in the vision – exactly square, with the two different Kuribohs upon it – making his heart beat all the harder. It was true… It was really there.

But, was the pendant truly inside?

Stepping slowly up to it, following the lines of the engravings with his eyes, Atem forced his hands to unclench long enough to raise them and tentatively touch the edge of the chest. He had been afraid, given Amir’s earlier claims, that it would not open. But the top came loose beneath his touch as easily as if it had been opened yesterday, and the suddenly visible lid was surprisingly light for solid gold as he lifted it away with both hands.

-and there it was. The golden sun, perhaps a little larger than his own palm- Sitting there in the middle of the chest, its matching cord wound about it looking as fresh as if it had been braided yesterday, not a fray on it. A stillness fell over Atem as he stared down at it, his heart aching in a way that wasn’t quite painful, but outlined the edges of his numb feelings in an incomprehensible manner. All he knew was… The pendant wasn’t just his, it wasn’t just important. It was _precious_ in a way that had nothing to do with gold, or power.

He didn’t even think about it. He just set the lid aside upon a nearby crate, reached in, cradled the sun in his hand, and lifted-

_The air smelled of death and incense._

_The scent had long invaded his senses, ingrained the truth of his father’s passing into his very skin. He had been standing there, staring at the cloth that covered and outlined his father’s face for who knew how long. No, it couldn’t have been long – the servants had gone to fetch Set and Siamun and Akhenaden - To get the priests, and the people who would prepare his body for burial. They would not be long._

_His father was dead… The king was dead… **He** was king now._

_The truth tasted of the air._

_The sound of a single set of feet filled his ears, then died away suddenly, just beside him. He could feel the warmth of someone there, the burn of their presence. He wished whoever it was would disappear, leave him to his silence and grief and denial just a moment longer._

_“_ Tayi sen. _”_

_His tears froze on his cheeks at the soft call- So sad, and distant, and beautiful. The sweetest torture and the only relief… And completely out of his reach, even as he **felt** him there, just behind him, no more than a breath away._

_Turning around on leaden feet, Atem breathed in the sight of the figure- drowning in its enveloping crimson cloak, black head cloth and scarves and veil hiding the face from view… Until a small dark hand of thin fingers and golden rings reached up, and pulled the veil away… And the face beneath-_

_His heart burst with love and pain._

His fingers- his fingers were shaking- The sun glistening with droplets, with- With tears. They were his tears- Atem was crying, and his tears were falling upon the smooth gold of the sun in his hand. He knew, but he could not register, his gaze landing blindly on a wall as the broken, solitary memory came to life in his mind’s eye, refusing to leave. He could see it… _He could see him-_

_Aibou…_

“Pharaoh, are you back here? Are you- There you are. Please, Pegasus has passed out as well. The ambulance will be here in a moment, just- …Pharaoh? _Pharaoh_!”

Isis was calling him, but Atem could not hear. He was slipping, falling to the ground- He had knocked the chest over and the lid and a crate and he had hit the ground but he could not feel it, and would _not_ let go of the pendant, clutching it to his chest and watching Isis hover over him without seeing her as he stared at another face- The face within his mind. The face of his partner-

The sight had been so sweet, even within unknown memory, that he wanted to weep with joy…

…but…

Atem… He did not understand the actual words uttered by the Egyptian boy with the eyes of his partner, but he knew… He _knew_ what he had said. What he had called him.

And where his soul recognized, his heart wailed. 

Isis was clutching his shoulder, speaking above him, but it was all blurring into black, disappearing, until all that remained in the world were those words… And what they meant…

_Tayi sen… **my brother** …_


	19. Chapter 19

“Yuugi? ...Yuugi, can you hear me?”

“Anzu-san, why are you trying again? We just-“

“I know, but I swear I just heard him try to speak.”

“...he doesn't seem to be moving at all. What do you think, Honda-kun?”

“I don't know, Bakura- I think we just need to wait. The doctors say he's stable, right? Yuugi probably just needs time.”

“But he didn't  _pass out_  after the last duel, did he? What if it was too much this time? What if Yuugi doesn't wake up?”

“We just have to  _trust him_ to… And we need to all stop using that name, you know.”

“What do you-”

A strange sound gargled up from nowhere and the voices fell silent- And it was some moments before Atem realized _he_  had made the noise. He had been striving, even before he was conscious of it, to speak- To be heard by the familiar voices circulating about his head. And apparently he had succeeded, for just as he thought he had lost them warm fingers brushed his arm, catching on the skin and making him aware of his own flesh.

“Yuugi? …Atem? Can you hear us?”

He couldn’t quite manage an answer, but his efforts to  _see_  proved more fruitful. Broken, uneven light stung his eyes as he pried them open and instantly flinched them shut again.

“-oh, he  _is_  awake! Hey!”

He flinched against the outburst, the sudden volume of it echoing in his head like a roar, and the scolding that followed wasn’t any kinder on his eardrums.

“Honda-kun, not so loud! He just woke up… Is it alright, Atem, if I prop your bed up? Would it help?”

“…yes,” he finally mumbled, and though his bones protested against the feeling of the mattress bending beneath him he didn’t give into the pain, merely tensing until the bed went still again. He was left sitting up in a soft recline, and the shift proved wonders for his fogged mind. Once the dizziness died down he finally managed to blink his eyes open properly, and found his friends there- Anzu, Jounouchi, Honda and Bakura all hovering over him in the harsh light of a hospital room.

“…yo.”

It was the only thing he could think to say, but all of them deflated with loosed breaths and clear, stark relief.

“ _Man_ , you have to stop doing this!” Jounouchi yelled, the relief and dying fear shining beneath his rough complaints. “We thought we had lost you for real this time!”

“Sorry,” he said, thoughtless and weak in his disorientation as he blinked at the lot of them, and struggled to remember- “What happened?”

“Isis-san said you collapsed not long after the duel- Back in the museum storage room?” It was Bakura. Atem mirrored the white-haired teen’s uncertain look as the memories leaked slowly back into his mind… And his breath caught in his throat when comprehension finally came.

The museum, the duel, the… the memory…

“Did-” He swallowed thickly and shut his eyes again, all too aware of his friends' staring at him. “Did the… pendant get left behind?”

“-you mean that sun necklace?” It was Honda who sought clarification, but Anzu who actually answered, craning about in her bedside seat to reach a drawer behind her.

“Isis-san kept it after the EMT took you away- She said she could barely pry your fingers off of it, even though you were unconscious. She stayed with us until the doctor said you would be fine, then passed it on to us before leaving.”

Atem heard her, but he wasn't listening enough to focus on the words, much less answer- And when he lifted his hand to take what she offered, he  _saw_  the IV running into the back of his hand, the new bruises melding with the old ones upon his skin, but he could not feel them. Not when everything felt dull, and his eyes were only for the pendant. He took it from Anzu only slowly… Warily… But all that he felt when he touched it was cold metal- All he saw was the necklace, hospital room and friends still hovering at the edge of his sight. No fresh scene flashed through his senses, and what he had seen before he passed out seemed like little more than a dream.

But… he  _had_  seen it. That vision… That memory.

“-Y… Atem?” Quiet as the naming was, the hesitance in it prompted the pharaoh to look up and blink numbly at an uncertain Anzu. “Your hand is shaking.”

Following her gaze back down to the pendant, Atem realized the sun was, indeed, shaking. And he couldn't, make it, _stop_. Eventually he reached up with a second hand and squeezed his own wrist until he went truly still, letting it and the pendant both drop to the sheets.

“Tired,” he said shortly, not even bothering to look up. “Must be… Just that.”

“Right,” Jounouchi answered, sounding skeptical at best and, and not encouraging Atem in the least to look at him.

Bakura… Atem couldn't even tell  _what_  Bakura was thinking as he spoke, but the consideration was clear enough in his tone. “That makes sense, certainly. You've been unconscious for half a day- And Isis-san said that you started bleeding heavily after you passed out- Out of your eyes and nose, pretty much everywhere. Completely ruined your clothes, apparently. I'd guess you lost at  _least_  a pint, if not two.”

“Uh, Bakura-” Honda said, the horror that couldn’t touch Atem reflected in his own voice.

“I'm just saying,” Bakura went on, nonplussed. “It's no shock if he isn't near recovered yet, just because he's awake.”

“-do you want us to get the doctor?” Anzu asked. Atem could tell, even with his eyes closed, that she was uncertain about asking- That _that_  was what he needed.

“No... No I, think I just need to sleep more.”

“Seriously?” Jounouchi asked, and the pharaoh almost  _wished_  the blond was pushing out of impatience- Not out of the worry that he heard in his friend’s prodding. “You don’t want to talk about anything that happened? Nothing? No questions?”

“…are they alive?” Atem finally managed, opening his eyes again to look, if not  _at_  any of them, then at least in their direction- Their faces a soft blur in his peripheral. “Pegasus, and Amir?”

“-I think so,” Honda said, finally volunteering the answer they all hesitated to give, the reason painted in his stumbling reply. “They were both still in surgery last we heard, though. Really ‘touch and go’ apparently, for both of them.”

-maybe it would have hurt less if Atem hadn’t expected an answer like that.

“-that’s all I need to know, for now. The rest should keep,” he said, slouching back into the mattress and shutting his eyes against the sight of their worried faces. He longed to tell them he just wanted to be alone, but knew in his bones that that would only encourage them to stay. So he said nothing, and eventually they gave the answer he hoped for, the clatter of feet and scrape of chair legs accompanying their words.

“We’ll give you some time to rest, then- And let the nurse know you’re up, but sleeping,” Anzu said. When he felt her fingers catching on his arm again, Atem worked up enough will to nod his head, just a touch.

“Thanks…”

“We’ll be back real soon, Atem,” he heard Jounouchi say, much more insistent than Anzu with her reassurance, and then there were footsteps, a door shutting… And nothing. Everything fell silent, barring the soft rumble of an active hospital just beyond his walls, and the machinery within them. Atem listened to the equipment running as he waited, waiting for the sounds of his friends’ footsteps beyond the door to fade away completely before daring to open his eyes again- And look at the pendant in his hand.

He still felt nothing from it- No visions or phantom smells or sights or sounds, no crisp burn of shadow magic as when he held the Tauk, or once used the Puzzle. For all appearances it was nothing but a large piece of jewelry. And yet it had cut through him with more force than any of the Items ever had, or the attacks in those shadow duels, or even the physical blows he had endured over the years- Largely from bullies targeting his partner.

His partner… The same soul that had been there, in that memory. The skin and the language and the very air about him might have been different, but that had been  _Yuugi_.

 _Yuugi_ , calling him  _brother_.

Atem clenched his teeth, pursed his lips against a cry that he  _sucked_  back into his lungs, the air only leaking back out of him in a whimper. He knew he shouldn’t let himself fall apart,  _knew_  a friend or a nurse or someone might come in and see him, but he couldn’t help it- He curled in on himself until his brow nearly met his bent knees and pressed the pendant to his chest – to his  _heart_  – with his unhindered hand. He didn’t know why the sting of its pointed rays against his palm was a comfort, but it  _was_ \- A warmth amid the chill in his blood.

He didn’t  _understand_ -  _Why_?! Why would he see that?! How could it possibly be true?! It didn’t make any sense!

Except… It did. Not yet, perhaps, but in his gut Atem knew that the puzzle fit together somehow, even when he couldn’t see where all the pieces went just yet. Some part of him recognized the truth, and stood stable as the rest of him shattered.

It didn’t matter  _how_  it was true, because it was. Yuugi, at some point,  _had been_  his own brother... And it hurt.

It hurt- and he couldn’t even pretend to not know  _why_  anymore.

 _I was going to let you go_ , he said without words- Into his mind, against the golden sun as he squeezed it so hard the sharp edges threatened to prick him.  _I was alright- I was happy to be with you, and walk away and never say it. I never did- Not even to myself. I didn’t even **think**  it- It was enough just to be with you while I had the chance. It was  **enough**!_

But that was when there had been no true labels, no named restrictions. Yuugi was his partner, his friend, his other self- And Atem left it at that. He reached for nothing more than what his partner gave freely, never tested where the boundaries lay between them, never let himself think about their eventual parting as anything but a given. He would leave… He would leave, and what mattered was finding his peace, and showing his partner his own strength. Treasuring it- Treasuring  _him_  without expectation.

Atem never considered his own affection, never looked at what Yuugi had become to him, because he was afraid. He was afraid of what he would see if he looked within his own heart. He was afraid of the truth- That he would discover there were  _no limits_  to the space Yuugi filled within it- That no mere words could  _ever_  encompass what he meant to him!

But now a word had been given, highlighting the truth in its failure to match his feelings, strangling his heart in its chains.

 _Brother_.

He buried his face in his arms, biting his own bruised skin to smother his sobs.

* * *

He would never know how long it was before the tears stopped, how long he sat there mourning feelings he had long bottled up and left on a shelf to collect dust. And now they had been loosed with nowhere to go, no point in accepting them now, no partner to share them with or hide them from.

But even when he inevitably wore himself out, the vision and all it implied still remained.

Atem didn’t know why the sun pendant had made him see that. Maybe it was some magic he could not sense, or maybe his own broken memory had been sparked at the touch of it because it _meant_ something to him. But, why show him that memory at all? Why would the Tauk lead him to the pendant? Was there something within the vision he was missing? A reason he needed to know about Yuugi being… his brother… Or, was there something more? Something hidden in that memory or… Something _beyond_  it? What had happened, in those days before his father’s death? The days after? If that ‘Yuugi’  _was_  his brother – a  _prince_  – why was he veiling his face, hiding himself in shadows?

Had the pained yearning Atem felt upon seeing him been due to his own feelings, cutting through the memory, or… Or, were they the  _pharaoh’s_?

All he knew came from that one flash, and those relived last days when he faced Zorc. But, it was enough to tell him _some_ things. He had not ruled long as king, he was certain of that. If his father had just died in that memory, then that scene couldn’t have been long before Atem’s own death. And yet, there had been no ‘Yuugi’ within the memory world- No brother mentioned at all. Wouldn’t… Wouldn’t Atem have seen some sign of him, heard _something_ of him? How could he be gone? Had the spirit of the Ring simply left ‘Yuugi’ out of his ‘game’ for some reason?

Except… Except-

_Turning around on leaden feet, Atem breathed in the sight of the figure- drowning in its enveloping crimson cloak, black head cloth and scarves and veil hiding the face from view…_

Atem squeezed his eyes shut against the memory, but there was no way to blot it out- No way to ignore what he recognized. The cloak... He had seen it before. The thief, the Bakura of the past had been wearing it when he dragged his father’s mummy into the throne room.

After he had raided his father’s  _tomb_.

 _It might mean nothing_ , he tried to tell himself.  _Maybe there was more than one. Maybe they had matching cloaks. Maybe aib-… Maybe he just decided to bury his own with my… **our**  father._

But the suggestion was shallow at best, and the logical, unacceptable solution was there, needling in the back of his mind. He couldn’t let it in- Couldn’t sit there anymore.

One last look at the pendant in his hand and Atem ignored the certainty that rang in his mind, sliding the golden cord over his head before wiping the tears from his face and pushing back the covers. His legs threatened to give out the moment he got out of bed and put weight on them, but he managed to stay up, grabbing and using the infusion pump pole for support. It rolled threateningly beneath his grip, nearly knocking him off balance, but with the IV line still running from the thing into his hand, he had to pull it along. So he brought it with him as he left the room, leaning on it like a crutch.

He knew that he would inevitably get caught - by a nurse or a friend, it was just a question of which would find him first - but it didn’t matter. He just needed to  _move_ , to not fester alone in the dark with his thoughts. He should have never sent his friends away, but he just… What was he supposed to tell them? How could he get through telling them about that, without the truth showing on his face?

Considering it sapped what little energy he had left and Atem stopped, what was it? Two- three halls down from his room? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t go any further, much less back- So he stopped and trudged over to the nearest chair, the pole knocking lightly on the wall beside him as he let it go and dropped down into the seat. He couldn’t even think properly anymore- His body ached for rest his heart wouldn’t allow him. All he could do was stare at the blank wall before him, nothing in his ear, his mind a gaping hole of silence that threatened to swallow his mind and failed.

It was in moments like that – the stillness of being alone with all thoughts gone, or worn down to the bone, his reality as it stood seeping into him without filter, that he felt Yuugi’s absence the most.

He squeezed his eyes shut and  _breathed_ , his chest throbbing with the effort.

_Aibou, where are you?_

He had no way to know how long he sat there whispering to a missing soul, wishing for his partner, for Jounouchi’s strength and Anzu’s care, Honda’s steady support and Bakura’s light and Jeu’s hope… But one moment everything was a numb ache, the next a scream scraped down his spine like a razor.

“ _Nooo!!_ ”

Atem jolted, dropping his thoughtless grip on the sun pendant as he pulled himself upright and looked about, half-baffled and half-dreading. The source was quick to make itself known, though, and while there was no attack or trick to blame, he quickly realized that it  _did_  involve The Devourer… And him…

“Why-” the person cried, and Atem’s stomach twisted hard, threatening to turn inside out. He knew that voice. “Why did this happen to him?! He would never- They have to be wrong, he would never hurt any-”

“I know,” said another, and a lump built up in Atem's throat, impossible to swallow. He didn’t have to see the speaker to recognize it as his father. “I know, Salma-”

“He was just- We finally set a date- He was so  _happy_  last night- His brother said he would come to the wedding- _Why_ -”

A distant click marked a door closing, and the cries were muffled to near nothing and soon overrun by footsteps and the echo of wheels. A pair of hospital workers came from the same direction pushing a gurney, a white cloth outlining the corpse beneath it.

They came within two feet of his chair. And all Atem could do was watch in impotent silence as they wheeled Amir’s body away.


	20. Chapter 20

"Yuugi?"

He didn't answer. He had long predicted that one of his friends would find him sitting out in the hall- It was only a matter of when, and who. And so Anzu received no acknowledgement, no sign of surprise or recognition from him as she moved closer. He just kept staring at the wall, numb to the reality of her stalling just inches away. He could have passed as calm, even serene, if it weren't for the telling lack of color in his cheeks, the tense hunch of his posture, the way he clenched his hands into tight balls against his legs so hard the bruised skin looked white.

"...Atem?"

The tentative second call faded in his ear nearly unheeded, as well. But the pharaoh belatedly blinked, the shift in name churning in his mind until he finally looked up at her. The mute alarm and uncertainty in Anzu's eyes was more than he could bare, though, and he dropped her gaze again in a blink. "-where are the others?"

"They caught a ride back to the apartment," she said, and Atem could see her out of the corner of his eye, skirting her glance to the wall, searching for whatever held his own attention so soundly. "-to get you more clothes and check on Malik-kun. He hasn't been well, so… What are you doing, sitting out here?"

"Amir Hatim is dead."

"…what?"

"Amir Hatim. He's dead," he repeated in the same dead, flat tone, ignoring the rise and fall of her confusion. And yet, even as he let the fact drop like a rock off of his lips, something churned within him, quiet but rising, threatening to bubble over at any moment. "…he was going to get married."

"Oh…" Even in that soft syllable Atem could hear Anzu's heart- The recognition and sympathetic sorrow even among her confusion. But he observed her reaction as though from a distance, incapable of connecting to it even as she spoke on. "I'm sorry… Did you, know him?"

"No," he answered, words a hushed whisper but growing louder as he twisted his fingers into his hospital pants, clenching them against the urge to snap. "No, I didn't know him. At all. And he was still mixed up in this. Still ended up  _dead_."

"…Atem-" Anzu tried, but it was no use. That mass in his chest had boiled over and burnt into his lungs, his guts, and with no energy or ability to get up or pace or scream or punch anything, all Atem could do was stew in his frustration.

"I never even touched his life points- But The Devourer made Amir play and lower them himself with card costs. And even though he didn't lose all of his candles like Banoub he still  _ended up dead_. What does that mean? Can Pegasus die from his wounds, too? Can  _Jeu_?" He wanted to get up- He wanted to get up  _so bad_ , but when the urge to try overwhelmed him his legs turned to liquid and he fell back again, his head spinning and Anzu starting.

"Atem-" she said, holding his shoulder steady with a hand until he went still, hesitantly pulling it away again when he didn't even react. "…Isis-san, she said that Amir Hatim had some sort of health issues- That he suffered from a kidney disease." The pharaoh slowly peered up at her, blank-faced but alert as she went on. "She was afraid that the bleeding would prove fatal because of it- And it looks like she was right. And if  _that's_  what happen then it's very sad- But it won't affect Pegasus or Jeu- Or anyone else."

Her expression softened, and Atem could see that light in her that always sparked when she strove to comfort him, or Yuugi- And he assumed their other friends, too. And she was right, if Amir was already sick somehow then the duel itself wasn't fully to blame for his death.

But… But, it still proved that the players  _could_  die from their wounds even when the fight didn't manage to claim their lives. It seemed obvious when truly considered, but thinking about it still made the pharaoh's own aches and bruises sting with a new significance. What would happen if he faced another duel right then, and won as he had against Banoub and Amir- Got out conscious only by the skin of his teeth? His wounds already felt far worse than the first time around- What would happen if he won the next duel, but was incapacitated in the process? What damage had it done to him already? Would any of it be permanent?

The body he was fighting in,  _risking_  with each fight, was  _Yuugi's_ …

"Hey-" He blinked and glanced back to Anzu as she spoke up, suddenly aware that he had zoned out again. But she showed no sign of minding- Only relief that he actually responded and a wary curiosity as her focus slid down passed his chest. "That pendant…"

Atem froze at the words, unable to block out the sense that the golden sun was burning through his thin hospital shirt beneath her notice. His fingers twitched with a want to hide it, but it was pointless- He couldn't dodge her questions, and sheer logic told him he  _shouldn't_. He needed to tell her and everyone else what he had seen.

But there was no denying the relief that ran through his veins when she asked "If you're wearing it, I guess you aren't worried about what it does?"

"-no," he answered, looking down at where the piece rested against his stomach. He had honestly forgotten it was there until she pointed it out. It felt so familiar, but he couldn't tell if it was because of some lost sensory memory, or if the weight simply reminded him of the Puzzle. "It doesn't feel like the Items. I don't know what it is, but if there is any magic in it, it's not like them- There are no shadows surrounding it."

"-well, that's good," she said, brow furrowed as she visibly sorted through her own thoughts. "But… But if it has no special powers, or none you know about, why did you need to find it?"

Atem said nothing. He knew he was letting the silence drag on too long, but he just couldn't find the words. Couldn't decide  _what_  to confess. The click of an opening door interrupted his struggle and he turned his gaze towards the sound- Only to tense stone-still when he saw Salma and Akram stepping into view.

Akram had his hand on Salma's shoulder, guiding the woman forward down the hallway in the same direction the staff had taken Amir's body. Akram's face was tilted towards the woman, his back to them, but  _Salma_ \- Her face was in perfect view. Her violet locks had fallen from their elegant twist and ran scraggly in her face, half-covering her expression. And her eyes… Her eyes were dead, bloodshot and red-rimmed, their earlier warm brown dulled as if grief had drained them of all color. Atem could have  _sworn_  she saw them- That her gaze even lingered on him for a breath, but he saw no recognition in her stare. She said nothing, indicated nothing, and Akram led her on until they fell back out of sight without incident.

"…who were they?" Anzu asked, and Atem could only feel grateful that she had not spoken within the two's hearing.

"That was Amir's fiancé and- And, my father," he answered, predicting Anzu's shock and not moving himself when she jolted at his answer.

"-that was him?" she asked while looking back towards the nearby hallway, as if hoping she might catch sight of him again. Atem had already told her and their friends about him, after all, and they had spent some time running into dead ends trying to figure out what his presence might mean. But none of them had  _seen_  the man save the pharaoh himself.

"Yes," he nodded, slumping slowly back down in his seat. "He works with her... He must have been with her when the hospital called her about Amir."

"-poor woman," Anzu said, her words no more than a whisper. But Atem heard them, the weight of what had happened and what had been lost catching back up to him as he stared forlornly down the empty hall.

"…Anzu?" he asked, drawing the girl's gaze back to his own. "When is the cost too much?"

She stared at him in a confusion too shallow to last, the thinnest film of denial covering her eyes. "What?"

"Banoub, and now Amir," he said as he dropped his focus onto the golden pendant he wore, cupping it in his hands. He had only gained it by walking passed the curator's body, bleeding and just a few hours shy from death. "If I lose, sooner or later, Pegasus and Jeu will die, too. And what about everyone who came before this,  _game_  started?" he asked, tilting his attention back onto Anzu with a sharpness he knew she had not earned but could not smother. "How many have fallen to bring me here to this point? How many have suffered? How many of my people did Zorc kill before I sacrificed myself? How many died because they failed as hosts for the Items? How many tomb keepers  _were_  there?" Atem felt dizzy from more than blood loss even considering the likely number- And beyond the incomprehensible sum was the potential for more. How many more duels and sacrifices would there be before the Seventh of October came and went? How many more souls would be lost? How many would be innocent, or precious to him?

"I'd do anything to bring  _aibou_  back," Atem said, the wistful whisper turning to steel in the space of a breath. "I  _will_  do anything, but what does that say? I will do whatever I need to, pay whatever cost I have to. But- How many others have to pay that price with me?"

"Yu…  _Atem_ ," Anzu said, stumbling in her clear emotion, and the pharaoh couldn't bring himself to call her out on the slip- Not when her gaze practically begged him to take her words to heart. "I know you've never shied from handing out penalties, or punishments- But you did  _not_  sacrifice anyone. You didn't choose this, and I know you aren't the same person you were at Pegasus's castle." Atem flinched at the callback, but still she spoke, and still he listened. "And I know you don't want anyone to get hurt… You died to  _protect_  your people! You care about what happened to that man- And Amir Hatim? Isis-san told us he had been Tutankhamen, and he died before you were ever even born? 'The Devourer' or whoever he is, he's been hurting people – even pharaohs of Egypt – long before you came along, hasn't he?"

"…I suppose so," Atem breathed, caught by the hint of relief in her words.

"Then- Then this isn't about  _you_ , is it? You're just another victim to him." She raised a hand and clenched it in front of her, frowning at him with a familiar determination in her eyes. "So don't be a victim- Don't take his crimes on your own head- Just stop him! Make sure no one we've lost was sacrificed in vain- Take the chance they gave us to stop him from hurting anyone ever again!"

All he could do was stare up at her, disbelief and admiration mixing in his thoughts for this friend who still managed to astound him, still managed to urge him forward through his own doubt just when he accepted stagnation. "-yes." And maybe it was only for a moment- Maybe it was brittle beneath the surface, but Atem managed it. He grinned, the tilt of his lips hinting towards a proper smirk. And the relief on Anzu's face made it worth it. "I  _will_  win this game… And he will regret ever dragging us into it."

"Right," Anzu breathed, and if there was some waver in her smile for his choice of words - the dark promise beneath them - it didn't collapse her mood, and neither of them commented on it as she moved to help him out of the chair. And if there was a touch of red to her cheeks as she supported his waist and a tension in her shoulder as he clutched it to keep steady, Atem didn't comment on that, either. The reaction was nothing new, after all, and he had long settled into his belief that the wisest move was to pretend he didn't notice at all- It only seemed to embarrass her more when he did.

And as they walked, the roll of the infusion pump wheels the only sound echoing between them as he pulled it along, Atem's mind was not on the numb, foreign, but necessary contact between them. He was considering what they had talked about- The need to move forward if he was to have any hope of stopping The Devourer… And, that if he wanted to do that, he couldn't be hiding things that his friends could help him understand, no matter how much he hesitated to tell them.

"Anzu?" He finally managed, hesitation behind every word, gaze caught on the pendant dangling from his neck. "About…  _Aibou_ …"

"I know-" she said when the silence stretched on too long. The pharaoh missed a step at the warm, soggy interruption and stared up at her, baffled and disbelieving. How could she  _possibly_ \- "Yuugi could easily be called one of those we already 'lost', right?" She didn't look at him when she asked. If she had, she would have seen the pained shock that passed over his face, and likely stopped right there. But Anzu was still focusing forward, her expression set against her own clear urge to hide from the thought. "And stopping The Devourer doesn't mean getting Yuugi back… But I know that you will."

"I  _have_  to," he breathed out, not even pausing to process her show of faith or consider his answer. It was only when she looked at him that he realized how fiercely he had said that. How desperately.

But it was too late to stifle his feelings. All he could do was stare back at her until her own expression softened with a nod. "Yes, and I know you won't rest until he's back with us- And you." She tacked on the last words almost like an afterthought… And the way she emphasized them made it impossible to keep meeting her gaze. But even as Atem strove to hide his reaction she pressed on. "And I get why you don't want to talk about it, but– I know it's been really hard on you, being without him."

He didn't reply- He  _couldn't_. He clenched his jaw against whatever answer might have fallen out, his chest swelling with an awareness of what it would have been. He didn't speak as they started moving again, didn't even look at her until Anzu bubbled over with a quiet, dry little chuckle. "Honestly, looking back- I'm surprised you were so calm when you lost your duel against him."

He peered up at her out of the corner of his eye, studying her sad, knowing smile. He had seen that look before, especially in recent months as his expected departure to the afterlife drew ever nearer. He knew that she had been struggling with his departure as much as any of them- Possibly even more so. She didn't want to see him go… But what did that have to do with their unexpected loss of Yuugi? "…what do you mean?"

"It's just- It meant you were leaving us…" she explained, and he couldn't help the sympathy that struck him at the clear sorrow in her voice, even as he struggled to hide it. But when Anzu looked up and he saw the reluctant determination in her gaze his heart thumped against his ribs like a warning. "-leaving  _him_. Saying goodbye forever- Losing each other. And you were so steady, even when Yuugi was-"

"-that was different," he interrupted on a strangled breath, a confused, even defensive frown staining his face as he glared at her. "He wasn't missing- In danger." Possibly gone, a question mark stamped forever over his face and fate when Atem thought of him now. And the reminder soaked through the anger he clung to so desperately, dousing it, leaving him weary and weak again. "I knew he was alright…"

"Right…" she echoed, her blue eyes screaming doubt and uncertainty as she stared at him until she finally shook her head and started walking again, forcing Atem to move his feet as well. "Of course, I'm sorry- Forget I said anything."

He didn't answer, allowing her to guide his steps. She eventually filled the silence by telling him how their friends would be back soon, how Isis would come by to report anything happening at the museum worth knowing about… And all the while he kept frowning at nothing, well aware that she hadn't truly believed him.

He had told her the truth- It  _was_  different. The constant torture of fearing that his partner was in danger or would never come back was nothing to compare to the bittersweet resignation he felt after losing that duel. He  _had_  been at peace about leaving. His relief in crossing over, finally getting his full memories back, and his gratitude towards his friends had overwhelmed anything that might have poisoned his mood. The once pharaoh had acknowledged his desire to stay, to  _live_  as unfeasible long ago, and any unsettled feelings for Yuugi had been buried beneath his pride and admiration for his partner.

It was also true, though, that those feelings had been disturbed, since Yuugi disappeared… And, he could not be sure  _what_  he would feel if he went back to that moment now, unable to deny them.

And Anzu was clearly more concerned about how he was feeling  _now_ , not then. And… And he didn't know what to tell her. He couldn't say she was wrong- That he  _wasn't_  miserable, that being separated from Yuugi  _didn't_  tear him apart. But he wasn't  _broken_  by his pain either, not even then- Not even after what the sun pendant had shown him. He had even been happy at times- Known levity and relief in the company of his friends. Even if it was for Yuugi's own sake, Atem had moved successfully forward without him… But he still felt his partner's absence like a hobbled foot he had learned to walk upon.

He wanted Yuugi  _back_. It didn't matter that he might leave himself- Possibly within even moments of the reunion. That even thinking of that parting made his stomach churn in a way it hadn't in months. It didn't matter that he was strong enough to go on without him-

" _Do you really think that that's all you're worth? Your strength and protection?"_

"-Atem?" Anzu asked, numbly alerting the pharaoh to the fact he had stopped walking. But he couldn't acknowledge it- Couldn't move under the memory that had suddenly sprung up.

Jeu… She had said that to him-  _Snapped_  at him when he implied he should leave because Yuugi didn't need him anymore. And while some part of him still clung to that logic – that there was no excuse for using Yuugi's body as his own or shadowing his life if he wasn't even  _needed_  – his heart had still stopped at the claims the girl threw at him. A girl who had never even  _met_  Yuugi. Her speech still made so little sense, and yet the words burned in his ears as hotly as they had amidst the rain of the palace ruins.

" _They'll be fine… Yuugi will be fine… They'll go on. Be strong, happy, grateful… But that doesn't mean, that they aren't losing something precious, when they let you go…_ "

"Anzu?" he breathed, eyes still hazed over and locked on the memory of a different girl. On the memory of his partner, so still, head tilted down, eyes hidden as Atem waited for him to proclaim that last attack and end their fight. "What would have happened if the ceremony went as we expected? If  _I_  had left?"

"-what do you mean?" she asked, but all Atem could do was stare back into her uncertain blues, waiting. Provided no guidance, all Anzu could do was edge slowly into an answer, clearly fishing for confirmation in his expression that her answer was what he was looking for. "You mean, if The Devourer never took Yuugi, and you were… Gone?" She struggled with the very suggestion, but shook herself passed it before Atem could even comment and took the challenge head-on with a considering frown. "Then- then I guess we would have taken the boat back to Cairo- We were supposed to be on a plane that night, there would be no time for more sightseeing. And, the autumn term will be starting soon, so if we were in Domino we would be preparing for that. The boys would probably be dodging the thought by talking about some game. Maybe prepping for another tournament coming up-" Even amidst her clear confusion of what he wanted, of why he hadn't stopped her yet, Anzu still smiled a touch, wistful and sad and amused all at once. "If Kaiba-kun hadn't started a new one by now, they would have found something to be excited about. But he's supposed to be working on a park right now, isn't he?"

"Yes," he answered, prompt but distracted as he considered her answer. Because she was probably right. Even if he knew they would all miss him, he had trusted his partner and friends to be fine- That they would go on to start adventures of their own. Atem would have never been so at ease about leaving them – leaving  _Yuugi_  – if he had suspected anything less.

Yuugi would move on, write his own story, unburdened by an aching need to look back-

" _Something they know they can never get back. Something they will miss-_ "

And… And even if Yuugi was sad to lose him, it still wouldn't feel  _anything_  like what  _Atem_  felt, losing him. It wasn't the same. To Yuugi, Atem was just his other self, his friend-

" _Don't sell yourself so short… The place you hold in their hearts… Is not so small…_ "

"…are you alright?" Anzu sounded almost scared to ask, her voice quiet, etched with alarm for whatever she saw in his face.

"I-" Atem swallowed and blinked back a sudden dizziness as he strove to think clearly. He shouldn't be taking it so seriously-  _Yes_ , Jeu might have proven herself eerily insightful, but she hadn't said  _just_  Yuugi. And she didn't know the boy's own heart, hadn't been there-

But… But one memory looped over and over again in his mind…

Yuugi's head finally snapping up, tears in his eyes as he called Silent Magician's final attack, winning the duel…

His partner collapsing to the ground in sobs…

He had looked so heartbroken, but Atem had taken it for granted that self-doubt and fear lay at the heart of Yuugi's intense reaction- That if Atem could only reassure him properly, he would collect himself- That Yuugi's sorrow at their parting would be lightened.

And… And Yuugi  _had_  said he saw himself as weak- That he looked up to Atem, hadn't he? He  _had_ … But… Only after Atem spoke first, told him to stand up and not cry- After he  _prompted_  the conversation to turn in that direction. Yuugi had listened, but when Atem thought back to the duel itself, he remembered- Yuugi had not been afraid. He had faced him without reservation, met him confidently play for play,  _smiled_ when he was cornered, looked Atem in the eye and never flinched. Could Yuugi truly have won the duel if he had doubted his ability to win, or the necessity for Atem to leave? Would his so-called weakness really have been first and foremost in his mind moments after winning and proving himself the stronger duelist?

… Maybe… But then again, maybe not.

No… Looking back, Atem couldn't swear to it at all.

But that left one, burning question… If a lack of confidence was not to blame, _what_ had been in Yuugi's mind when he proclaimed that last move? What had brought him to his knees, crying more than- than… Had Atem ever seen him cry quite like that? Maybe, on the roof of Pegasus's castle, after he nearly killed Kaiba? Or when they had thought Jounouchi was going to die after dueling the other Malik- Surely Yuugi had been worse then, hadn't he? Atem couldn't, quite recall– He had been so torn up himself at the time, it was all a blur. But he just couldn't imagine that it could even  _compare_ …

And it… It couldn't… Could it  _really_  grieve Yuugi that much to watch him leave, if he  _knew_  he didn't need him anymore? Genuinely understood that Atem needed to go?

Would it have truly,  _honestly_  hurt Yuugi, to lose him?

"…I don't know…"


	21. Chapter 21

“Pfft-!” Jounouchi choked, making a face as he forced down the hunk of chicken he had bit off. “This hospital food is a complete joke- I can’t even chew it!”

“Yeah, I still say we should have brought something in- Kept it hidden from the staff,” Honda agreed as he stared skeptically at his own plate, not even daring to try what the nurse had brought them. “These people don’t even know what made Atem sick- How can they know what’s bad for him to eat?”

“Guys,” Anzu cut-in warningly, frowning at the both of them from her spot on the hospital room sofa, the food tray on her lap as untouched as Honda’s. “We can’t take chances like that- We could get kicked out of here and not be allowed to visit. And do you really want to take chances with Atem’s health?”

“Don’t worry, about me. Just… Bring yourself, something, next time,” The named pharaoh managed, struggling to finish the sentence at least a half dozen times.

“You sure you don’t need more medicine or something?” Jounouchi asked, striving to cover his concern behind a side glance and failing utterly.

Atem shook his head. “No, I’m fine,” he insisted, though he knew he would have to ask for more pain medication, sooner or later. He just didn’t want to seem too eager for it. It would just worry them more.

It didn’t sit well with him, lying abed while everyone hovered about him, as if they expected him to die at any moment. Despite the lack of new injuries, though, the pharaoh had grown only dizzier and shakier over the long night. By morning he was incapacitated by pains in his chest and stomach, the constriction making it hard to breathe. The doctor said they were common side effects of such heavy blood loss, but he still couldn’t help it- The damage felt so intense compared to the first time he dueled The Devourer, and since he lost the same amount of life points in both duels he could only assume the two incidents had stacked together to harm him somehow. The idea of what might happen if there was a _third_  encounter left him practically hyperventilating for a while, worried for Yuugi’s body… And all the doctor had to say when Anzu reported it was anxiety was a common side effect, too.

That had passed, though, and Atem would be hard pressed to say if his lingering increased heart rate and shallow breath were due to his actual health troubles, or the thoughts that plagued him. However irritating it was to be ill, it was easier to blame that than acknowledge he was running himself mentally ragged. He had gained no new insights, no further memories or revelations about his partner in the ancient  _or_  recent past, but still Yuugi haunted his thoughts far more overtly than usual. Even as the pharaoh tried to focus those musings in productive directions – puzzling out Yuugi’s whereabouts, or considering the best way to share that memory with his friends – he found his hand sliding again and again to the pendant hanging from his neck, his mind to the boy himself, and the doubt that had sprouted to life within his heart the night before.

His friends were a help, though. Anzu did her best in the first hours, searching for things to talk to him about until Honda and Jounouchi finally came back and she could rest for a while. Kuroi had driven them, but he stayed only long enough to frown at Atem’s bruises and interrogate him about what happened before slipping away again, saying Mana was visiting her cousin and would need a ride back. Bakura, meanwhile, had stayed behind at the apartments with an ill Ishtar. According to Honda, Malik was developing some excruciating migraines. They were apparently so bad that Jounouchi had tacked on - without an ounce of humor - that perhaps they should have brought him to the hospital as a  _patient_. But Malik was refusing to be looked at.

-thus their surprise when Malik walked through the door.

“-good morning, everyone,” Bakura said over-top their shocked silence as he trailed in behind a weary, but standing Malik.

“-hey!” Jounouchi managed, gaze pinned on Malik even as he answered Bakura. “Did Kuroi give you guys a ride, too?”

“Why would he?” Malik blinked at them with a flat, tense expression, his eyes half-shut and dulled dark with pain and dormant irritation. “I have my bike.”

“-you  _drove_  here? Yourself?” Anzu asked, clearly askance at the idea- And clearly torn on which of the two she should be berating more, focusing the same look on Bakura. “And you rode _with him_?!”

Bakura shot her a sheepish smile, chuckling awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head. “I admit it was a little nerve-wracking, but I thought it better than letting him come alone. Besides, Isis-san did ask us to be here.”

“-Isis?” Atem echoed, and the two new arrivals looked his way- Bakura with alarmed concern upon noting how Atem looked, sounded, and Malik- He only surveyed him out of the corner of his eye, expression noncommittal on whatever he noticed. The pharaoh couldn’t even see Malik’s face properly when he stood like that, but he could  _feel_  his attention on him.  Atem squashed the urge to fidget or glower or outright glare defensively beneath a focus on Bakura. “She’s coming?”

“Yes, she called from the museum and told us she and Rishid are on their way,” Bakura confirmed, blinking with a delayed confusion on his face. “…actually, I’m surprised we beat them here.”

“Only by a breath, Bakura-san” came the answer. Everyone looked to the door once more as the second, and then third Ishtar walked into the room. Isis smiled at them, but there was a shallowness to the expression that Atem could only assume covered exhaustion or worry or some heavier emotion. “My apologies for keeping you waiting- I meant to return and speak with all of you far sooner.”

“Wouldn’t have been much to see if you had,” Honda answered, tone acknowledging her apology even as he dismissed it. “Doubt we would have been up to much talking even an hour ago.” He didn’t  _exactly_  look at Atem as he said it, but the pharaoh knew he wasn’t the only one who got his meaning as multiple glances swerved uncertainly in his direction.

He ignored the tension that gathered on the back of his neck beneath the attention, asking Isis, “You needed… To talk to us?”

“Yes,” she confirmed, a frown finally surfacing openly on her face at Atem’s clear struggle to speak, only to deepen further the moment she glanced to Malik. “Is what I hear true? Your head is bothering you again?”

“It’s fine,” Malik insisted, throwing a scathing look at an unflinching Bakura before schooling his expression back into a notably weary neutrality. “I took some medicine. It should be kicking in any minute.”

“Still, this has only been getting worse since you fainted back in that chamber,” Isis countered.

“If you come back with us, instead of returning to the apartments with the others, I can keep an eye on you until we’re certain you’ve recovered,” the often silent Rishid suggested, Atem left wondering if he meant the offer as a subtle show of support for Isis, or a peace-seeking plea to Malik.

“Or, if that seems unsuitable, we could just skip that and have you admitted for observation in the hospital right now,” Isis said, breezing smoothly over what the pharaoh was certain was going to be an instant dismissal. Clearly thinking better of it in light of that ultimatum, Malik’s expression twitch with an irritation that he successfully banked, but, still looked shockingly severe from where Atem was laying.

Eventually Malik contained the clear urge to snap, shrugging with convincing but still transparent carelessness. “I will think about it.”

“-you didn’t call us here to ask him about that, though, did you?” Bakura asked lightly, gaze still caught on Malik for a moment even as he unsubtly tried to redirect the conversation.

“-no, it is not,” the elder Ishtar sibling acknowledged, finally releasing her brother from her scrutiny to focus once more on the pharaoh. “The police didn't find anything worth blocking us from the museum over. They unbarred it as a crime scene and handed control over to the council. We immediately ran our own search of the storage room and Hatim’s office.”

“-did you, hear what happened to him?” Anzu asked cut in with clear hesitation, and Isis's expression darkened even further, a tense silence hanging in the room until she answered.

“Yes… I spoke to Salma Fida myself. She is-” she began with a glance back to Atem, only to stall in search of a proper word, finally settling on “Suspicious, and blames us for what happened. She may be grieving right now, but if she recovers enough I fear she will try to find a way to make us bleed for it.”

“Of course she will,” Atem whispered, and though he didn't bother speaking again when Isis arched her brow at him he stared back at her with eased certainty. For even if he might worry himself, fear Salma might find some way to bring the authorities down upon their heads, the pharaoh couldn’t conjure up any other feeling towards her than sympathy. Even if he sought to excuse himself from responsibility Amir’s fate - which he couldn’t quite do - the fact of the matter was he could understand her.

If it had been him- If  _he_  saw someone he loved slip through his fingers without warning, he would want to burn anyone he blamed of the crime alive, too.

He didn’t need to put himself in her shoes to know that.

“Yes… For the time being, though,” Isis finally said, trading a glance and nod with Rishid, prompting him to approach Atem’s bedside as she spoke on. “We have not found anything missing from the collections as of yet, but we did find something hidden in Hatim’s desk.”

“That’s-” Anzu began, only to fall short of words as Rishid finished fishing something out of a duffel bag and placed the item on Atem’s breakfast tray for all to see.

The Millennium Scales.

-perhaps he should have been surprised, but even though the Items had largely slipped his mind the appearance of a second of the missing set registered in Atem’s dazed mind as little more than logical.

That didn’t mean he had any answer to Honda’s “How did the curator get a hold of  _that_?”

“I do not know,” Isis replied, frowning critically at the Item as Rishid back again. “Nor do I know why he didn’t attempt to use it against us, rather than leave it sitting in a drawer.”

“The Scales wouldn’t- have been, useful,” Atem said, reaching out to touch one of its golden pans. Yes, he could feel the chilled, suffocating buzz of shadows within the gold- A sensation that was nothing like what he sensed from the sun he had found in the museum. If there was any magic within the pendant, it was imperceptible to him- Save, perhaps, for the warmth he swore he felt coming off of what should have been cold metal. “It’s meant to sense, darkness in a heart… And destroy those who, have it. Amir would have, gained nothing… from using it.”

“Unless he used it on  _Pegasus_  maybe,” Jounouchi countered, but Atem gave his friend little more than a considering glance before dropping his hand again, collapsing back into the mattress with a relief he would not show or admit.

“Still doesn’t explain… Why he had it…”

“I have been considering that myself,” Isis answered, drawing the room’s attention back to her. “I can only assume you were right about Banoub using the Tauk to foresee your visit to the palace ruins– Among potential other things, such as our visit to the museum yesterday. But if Amir had the Scales, perhaps the Items are serving another purpose… One alternative is the darkness within the Items somehow serves The Devourer in his efforts to possess his sacrifices, but-  _Another_ possibility is, perhaps, they aren’t for The Devourer at all… Perhaps the Items are for  _you_ , pharaoh.”

Atem blinked at her, dizzy and slow in comprehending, until he finally found the words and energy to check “You mean… As a prize? For winning?”

“Why would Atem get  _those_?” Honda asked, confusion making him frown. “He already had them to begin with- I mean, they were lost in that earthquake or whatever you want to call it, but The Devourer didn’t have to go digging them up just so Atem could take them back. And what good are they to us now? We’re not dumb enough to try using them, and the tablet they go into to unlock that door was destroyed-”

“The tablet…” It was Jounouchi who spoke up, the words dropping from him with the slow dawning of a thought flowing out of him even as it formed. “There was another one in that chamber Jeu showed us, remember?!” He looked to Malik for confirmation, but it was like the former tomb keeper didn’t even hear him. He just kept staring wordlessly out the window until Jounouchi gave up and caught Atem’s eye instead, an uncertain understanding sliding between them until the pharaoh managed to speak.

“…that must, have a use, yes… You think I need, to take the Items there?”

“That does seem reasonable,” Isis confirmed, looking from one boy to the other and back. “The chamber might have held The Devourer for thousands of years, but the lapis lazuli tablet you told me about does hint that the Millennium Items might yet serve another purpose. It is no jump to say you need to gather them back together and take them to that chamber.”

“But-” Anzu chimed in, staring at Atem with open concern before turning to Isis. “We have only two. Does that mean, mean that there are going to be  _five_  more fights like the one in the museum? Five more… ‘Sacrifices’?”

Isis met her gaze, but didn’t answer, the softening of her teal eyes and tensing of her lips speaking her own guess loud and clear.

“And then… what?” Atem asked over the hanging, damning silence. “I am supposed, to find  _aibou_ … How would, this help?”

“I do not know, pharaoh.” Isis considered the Scales resting innocently upon the tray for a long beat, then said, “Perhaps bringing the Items together in that place will unlock something – another key, knowledge, power - and help solve the mystery of Mutou Yuugi’s whereabouts.”

It… could be, actually. And theory though it was Atem felt his struggling heart skip an extra beat at the very suggestion. If true, it would provide a purpose and a goal clearer than any he had known since his partner disappeared. Fight these enemies, survive them, take the Items, place them in the tablet… And that might well be it. Game won. Partner returned. It sounded impossible to pull off, especially if he wanted to avoid more deaths, but it was  _conceivable_ \- A path and end so,  _so_  sweetly tangible after weeks of fogged, miserable confusion.

But… there were still pieces missing from that puzzle.

“And… this?” He held up the sun pendant just long enough to draw attention to it before letting it fall back against his stomach. “What, is this for?”

“…I cannot say,” Isis admitted, but her gaze when she looked back up at him was not baffled or apologetic, but scrutinizing. “I would have to understand what it is before I could hazard a guess- Along with what happened to you back at the museum when you touched it.” 

Atem went on staring impassively back at the woman, even as he felt every other pair of eyes shifting his way.

So… This was it. And while his heart stuttered at the very idea of answering, the rest of him steeled instinctively against the urge to run.

He wouldn’t flinch away- It simply wasn't in him.

“I saw a memory of when-” he began, only to struggle for air. He had rushed himself, pushed out the words too quickly. It left him dizzy, but a moment of frowning and a long, deep inhale brought back the clarity to his vision. He tried again, slowly. “I saw, my father… He had died, and- I was waiting, for… Then- _aibou_ appeared-”

“Wait-  _What_?!” Jounouchi burst out, quiet wonder twisting to thrown shock in an instant- And not just for him. But Atem stared passed them all, nodding wordlessly before daring to try and continue.

“Yes, but… Not,  _Yuugi_ , he… was there. Was Egyptian. He-” He clenched his fingers into the sheets, striving not to balk or show _anything_ beyond weary stillness. “Called me brother.”

…no one said anything. They just stared. First at him, then at one another, mutually searching for certainty that they had heard him right. And all the while Atem stared passed them, refusing to grant the emotion welling up in his chest any freedom, tense and furtive and silent beneath their gazes…

Until Anzu dared breach the hush, something thick and confusing beneath her words. “You mean… Yuugi-kun was in the past, too? As in, a  _prince_  in his last life? As… Your brother?”

“Yes.” The word was chalk on his tongue.

 “What did he say to you?” Bakura asked, only to stumble backwards into an explanation. “When he appeared, I mean.”

“Nothing,” he said, still focusing on his knuckles. “He called me, I turned… I saw him. I woke up.”

“That… Isn’t really a shock, is it?” Honda asked, drawing even the pharaoh’s gaze to the uncertainly frowning teen. “I always thought it was weird how the two of you looked alike- The past you and Yuugi. Makes sense, if you’re related… Though, to tell the truth, I always thought it was some reincarnation thing or something, like with Kaiba and Mana.”

“That could only be true if Pharaoh Atem’s soul split into two, allowing the pharaoh as he is now and Yuugi-san to exist simultaneously as incomplete halves,” Isis told Honda, but the contemplative way she said it left Atem wondering if, perhaps, she had considered the idea herself. Whatever the case may be, she admitted, “I considered the possibility that Mutou Yuugi was simply borne out of destiny, formed in the image of the pharaoh as a further sign of his fate as his vessel and other self, but I never imagined Yuugi-san was once an unknown relation… I have never found any evidence of a brother, after all. Even within your own tomb, pharaoh- No span of time would have erased him from there.”

“Maybe it's- hidden. Like the, pendant was,” he countered even as the woman's point settled unpleasantly in his mind. If the proof of this brother's existence was  _hidden_ , after all, there had to be for a reason for that, too.

“-perhaps,” Isis allowed. “Whatever the case may be, however, we know of it now- You were led to the Sun Pendant by the Tauk, and now the pendant has shown you this memory. There must be some meaning behind it- A role this memory plays in your fight against The Devourer, or in finding Yuugi-san.” 

“But, how can something that happened thousands of years ago help us find Yuugi now?”

Isis glanced back at Bakura at his question, uncertainty in her eyes even as she said, “…there could be some clue hidden in the pharaoh's memory. Some sign perhaps of The Devourer's history, what he might be thinking or want now-”

But as she searched for a logical solution Atem's mind swam back to what little he knew of the shadow that hung over them all, the known history between himself and that creature more legend than fact. Whatever had happened three thousand years ago remained wrapped in a fog of vagaries.

Save for a few key details.

“-Malik?” he asked, drawing everyone's confused gazes to the younger Ishtar. “You said, The Devourer… It attacked, the night I, became king? When my, father died?”

“What are you-” Malik cut himself off, narrowing his eyes on Atem so much he could barely make them out properly. Slowly, quietly, he started speaking again. “‘-evil came down from the heavens to devour-’  _Right_ , the tale of the night you became the pharaoh.” It felt like it had been a million years since the pale haired Egyptian first quoted that to him, back in that chamber of onyx. “You're thinking-”

“ _Aibou_ , the past one, was there... That same night.” Or recently enough- The new pharaoh had to have 'gained his crown' upon the death of their father. And there the boy had been, appearing as if he had been summoned by the freshly titled king's own grief. It wasn't a leap to guess “He could, be linked to… The Devourer, too.”

“That would follow...” Isis chimed in, a finger beneath her chin as she looked thoughtfully to the floor and mused aloud. “It would make sense if Yuugi-san once played a personal role in The Devourer’s fall, given that he was the one stolen away. It could well be vengeance against _him_ , as well as you.” At a word her gaze was back up, pinned on Atem as she took a single step towards his bed. “But I think there is something else we can learn from this, pharaoh. The fact that you could remember this at all- You believe this was, without a doubt, your own memory?”

He didn’t even have to consider it, nodding with a quiet, but confident “Yes.” He had once thought the visions and events in the world of his memories felt real, but they had been nothing next to the reality of that single flash of life- His own, present mind washed away and filled with thoughts of dead fathers and expected priests, the grief and emotions washing through him as his own. Even the soles of his shoes and the fabric of his cape brushing his fingers had been there, dismissible but so, so real.

He had not just remembered events from the life of ‘Atem’ or stood in his skin- He  _had been_  Atem.

And for her part, Isis seemed to believe him without question. “Then you didn’t just see a vision of when you were the pharaoh- You _remembered_ being him. Whether it was drawn from the recesses of your soul or from the pendant itself, you regained a fragment of your true memories. That can be no coincidence, and if you remembered that, do you imagine that that is the only memory you are capable of reclaiming?”

-it seemed so obvious, put like that. And it wasn’t really shock that Atem felt. But his heart still swelled up in his throat to have it  _voiced_  by another. And around him his friends looked taken aback, staring at one another until Anzu managed to speak up. “You think- Atem could remember his old life?”

“I don’t think he just could,” Isis corrected, turning her pointed gaze from Anzu back to the bedridden king as she stressed her meaning. “Given the circumstances, I think he is  _meant_  to.”

His true memories… To finally remember not just his identity, but his  _life_. It- It was only a theory, Atem knew that. Isis might be wrong. But the very idea that it could be  _possible_ … He had always felt empty somehow without a sense of who he was- Been adrift even among his partner and friends, even  _after_  their journey to the ‘past’. But he had thought that his memories and that sense of fulfillment and peace that eluded him were to be his reward for crossing over- That that was  _why_  he had to leave them behind. That, maybe, the ‘true’ pharaoh with his memories intact simply couldn’t exist in a world that had long buried him.

And now… What? That wasn’t true? He  _could_  remember his life without that sacrifice? What did that mean? Who would he be, if he remembered everything from that life?

… _what_  would he remember?

He didn’t know, and that unknown might have unnerved him, save for the certainty of one thing- If Isis was right, there was a purpose. He was meant to remember,  _needed_  to remember to finish this game.

To get Yuugi back.

“If I am, meant to… I will… But- That one memory,” he said as he looked down at the sun, cradling it in his hand, as when he first found it in the museum. “Is all, the pendant showed me… I don’t, know how to…”

“Maybe you have to do something with it to unlock the rest of them?” Bakura suggested, uncertainty and possibility mixing to shine as hope in his green eyes. “Say something over it, like with the Winged Dragon of Ra, or take it somewhere?”

It would follow. Whatever magic had been in the pendant’s chest and the sun itself burst to life only at his touch. It did not linger constantly, it had to be triggered somehow. But… How? Was it something involved and complicated, like when he had to gather all of the God Cards to gain access to the world of memories, read the secrets on Malik’s back, and then take them to-

Atem’s eyes went wide as he sucked in a breath. “The tablet…” he mumbled, barely audible.

And though he had been heard, there was only confusion in Jounouchi’s voice as he asked “Uh, you mean the one that fell apart, or the one down in that chamber?”

"Neither- I mean, the stone slab that… Was in the, museum, in Domino. With images of, Kaiba- And I. The tablet I used… With the God Cards."

"-the Tablet of Memories?" Isis named, understanding dawning across her features.

“Yes,” Atem confirmed as he looked from one Ishtar to another. “When I saw, your scars, I saw a vision- A certainty I, could gain my, memories… From that stone.” It felt like a thousand years ago, but Malik must remember it as clearly as he did. The pale haired youth flinched at the mention, but continued staring at the floor, seemingly lost in thought and unresponsive. So the pharaoh slid his focus back to Isis and went on, even as his lungs threatened to burn to ash. “The evil spirit, in the Ring, pulled me into, his game… I thought, that was what, the vision had meant, would happen… But- Maybe getting my, true memories… was only, delayed… Maybe, I’m meant to get them,  _now_.”

“Then…” Isis began, only to shake her head, lips catching in a considering frown. “I cannot imagine we misunderstood the prophecy- Zorc was indeed defeated in that world of memories, even if the scenario was machinated by the Spirit of the Millennium Ring. But… You are correct, that tablet may depict only your final battle, but it has always been associated with your memory- Your existence as a whole. And it held the power to draw you into the ‘past’ once before… Perhaps it could do so again.”

“But, if that’s true-” Malik cut in, finally looking up, but only towards his sister. “Then wouldn’t he need the God Cards to activate the tablet? And the pharaoh told us they disappeared.”

…the God Cards. They were indeed, still gone- A mystery Atem still did not understand. They were not in his deck after Banoub trapped him and Jeu, and yet they had not been on the man or found in the ruins. The Devourer had never directly acknowledged the theft, had not used them against him in anyway even as he strove to destroy him. The inconsistencies were nearly as alarming as the actual loss.

Isis looked from her brother to the frowning king and back before speaking, whatever uncertainty Malik’s reminder had caused _her_ neatly folded away. “If the Sun Pendant showed the pharaoh even one memory on its own, perhaps that is all the key he needs now. And if not… We will cross that bridge when we come to it.” Silence fell across the room for a breath, the possibility of failure looming openly in all their minds.

But Atem wouldn’t let that those shadows linger in his own, pushing them forcibly back as Isis finally spoke again. “In the meantime, the Tablet of Memories was brought back to Egypt with the rest of the collection- It was already set up on in the museum before you arrived yesterday- We simply did not pass by its room. The building is still locked up, and will be for the foreseeable future, but I can get you access again as soon as you feel well enough to go.”

It was only natural that Atem instantly sat up a little straighter, bracing his weight on an elbow as he pushed back the sheets. “Then-”

“Ooooh, no you don’t.” Jounouchi was there in an instant, pushing Atem back against the mattress by a shoulder and holding him there. “We want Yuugi back as much as you do, but you’re not helping anybody right now.”

Atem tensed at the rough moves and words, but he had no time to do more than glare before Anzu moved to the bedside, too, shooting him a frown. “Right- You can’t go anywhere until you’ve recovered- You can barely walk.”

“And even if you could-” Honda tacked on, staying where he was but pinning Atem down just as effectively by look alone. “You would have to get passed us.”

 “Your friends are right, pharaoh,” Isis agreed, the lack of anything stubborn or insistent in her acknowledgement eating away at Atem’s impulse to protest until all he could do was listen with a numb ear. “Whatever the rush, we will solve nothing by being reckless. Please, heal properly. Then we can move forward without worry.”

Atem didn’t see how any amount of time or healing could wash away the need to worry, but he couldn’t deny their arguments… And was, honestly, incapable of fighting them if he wanted to. Jounouchi could probably hold him down with that one hand, if he wanted to.

And apparently the group took his silence as acceptance, as Malik soon turned for the door with a dismissive word over a shoulder. “If that’s all you need for now, I’ll be heading back.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Isis asked instantly, prompting Malik to stall a step from the door. Atem couldn’t see his face, but he could practically feel the irritation coming off of him- He must have thought his sister had forgotten his own health issues, or at least that he could slip away before she stopped him.

Before any sort of argument could restart, though, Rishid stepped forward. “I will go with him on the bike- We’ll meet back at the apartments.”

Isis’s features twisted with reluctance - likely she would have preferred admitting Malik to the hospital right then - but apparently she judged it better to agree, slowly nodding. “Very well… Will it be alright if we stay at the apartments again, pharaoh? If we’re to be in Luxor for a little while-“

“It’s not my, call…” Atem interrupted, his words coming out sharp and harsh even as he stumbled for the breath to speak. But he couldn’t help it- It wasn’t _his_ home they were asking to stay in. And apparently Isis realized her mistake soon enough herself, her shock turning to recognition and uncertain shame.

 It should have been _Jeu_ giving permission, not him.

But Atem wasn’t looking to criticize Isis, or for any apologies, so he went on just as she looked ready to speak. “It would be, Mana’s, now…”

“Of course… We will be sure to ask her.” With that, Isis gave a quick bow, her brothers giving their own farewells and sliding away behind her. “A safe and quick recovery to you, pharaoh.”

“See ya later, guys,” Honda answered, almost _for_ him as Atem leaned back and shut his eyes among the goodbyes- Bakura calling “We’ll be there soon!” while Jounouchi all but drowned him out with a “Tell Mana we’ll be back, too!”

It was only after the calls and footsteps faded away that he heard Anzu, there right at his shoulder. “And I suppose we should let you actually rest- But, I just want to say, this is really great.”

Atem opened his eyes at that, but the tentative smile he found on Anzu’s face only furthered his incomprehension.

 _Great_?

“-isn’t it?” she asked, her grin curdling into uncertainty even as she strove for a reassuring tone. “If you saw Yuugi, or  _a_  Yuugi in that memory, maybe this will help us understand what happened to him. Like Isis-san said, we could _find_ him… And you- You’ve wanted your memories back for a long time, haven’t you?”

“…yeah…” was all he could say. He knew he wasn’t responding to her properly- Wasn’t responding at all, really, but one word and a blank stare was all he could offer her.

He was… Relieved… Uncertain… Confused, hopeful, desperate, _scared_ -

How would that mess reflect upon his face if he let it?

“…say, Atem-” Jounouchi spoke up, interrupting the stumbling exchange. “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?”

“-what?” he asked aloud that time, understanding itching like a threat at the edge of his senses.

“About the memory- About Yuugi being your brother.” The blond crossed his arms and pinned a hard frown on him that made Atem want to look away. He didn’t. “You had to know yesterday, and you didn’t say anything. Why not?”

“I didn’t know… how, to tell you…”

“Well, what’s the big deal?” Jounouchi asked, his will to press and keep pressing plain as day as he gave a one-shoulder shrug. “All you have to say is ‘Hey, turns out Yuugi used to be my brother! Weird, huh?’”

“It’s not… that simple.”

“What do you mean it’s not that simple?”

“Jounou-” Anzu tried to intervene, only to cut off when Jounouchi instantly shook his head.

 “No- There’s obviously something on his mind. Something he’s hiding. What’s _eating_ at you so bad?”

Atem’s fingers dug into his palm as he still refused to dodge Jounouchi’s gaze, but… He could feel it. He could _feel_ his composure cracking, everything he held back threatening to spill out. His friend was just a breath away from unearthing the truth he dug for.

He couldn’t let him.

Even as it felt like failure on some level, he looked away.

“Atem?” Honda asked, softer but no less insistent in his unsaid inquiry, and the pharaoh shut his eyes and ears against it.

He couldn’t tell them what that memory had made him face within his own heart. They were his friends, yes, but they were _Yuugi’s_ , too. Even… Even if they by some miracle didn’t care about his feelings, he couldn’t burden them that way. Not when they were going to be at his partner’s side long after _he_ was gone.

What good would come from making them carry his confusion?

“ _Alright_ , fine-” Jounouchi finally said, his words far too sharp and harsh for the carelessness he tried to front. “Keep your secrets! -but if you change your mind, you know you can trust us with this stuff, right? We’re here to _help_ , you know!”

Atem’s lips twitched despite him, catching in the slightest smile before instantly souring back into stillness. However it warmed him to hear that, he couldn’t take his friend up on the offer. All he could do was nod, fingers catching on the Sun Pendant as he gave a grim, confident “I know.”


	22. Chapter 22

"Yeah, yeah, we're almost there. I  _swear_ \- We'll call as soon as we find out anything! …fine…  _Fine_ \- Call back if you want." Jounouchi hung up his borrowed phone with a loud sigh. " _Man_ , if I knew it was going to be like this, I would have let Anzu come instead of me!"

"As if you would," Honda countered, never taking his eyes off of the taxi window or the sights passing by beyond it. "I wouldn't give up my spot to her then, and I wouldn't now."

"Well  _yeah_ , I don't mean it," Jounouchi protested, frowning at Honda for the very suggestion before turning and nudging the third passenger in the ribs. "Like we'd let you go back to this museum without us."

Atem didn't answer directly, but looked from Jounouchi to Honda and back as he asked "Do you think Anzu and Bakura will follow in another cab?"

"Wouldn't put it passed them," Honda answered, sounding amused by the idea than anything. The two had been as keen as Honda and Jounouchi about joining the pharaoh on his trip to the museum, and just as wary about letting him leave the hospital in the first place. The pharaoh had recovered a lot since the death of Amir four days ago, but he was still weak, and half-covered in faint purple and ruddy green bruises.

He had managed to hide most of the damage from his friends by opting for a long-sleeved black shirt, but they had still all been adamant on sight that he was  _not_  going back to that museum alone- Not in that state!

Atem hadn't fought them, or voiced his certainty that they would have come no matter how he looked.

Alone or not, he couldn't delay the visit any longer- The Ishtars were waiting for him, ready to escort him to the Tablet of Memories and help him understand whatever he might see when he held the Sun Pendant before the stone slab… Or discuss their options if nothing happened at all. He strove to keep that possibility from his mind as the cab pulled up to the building and he and his friends approached the front doors of the museum. A sense of déjà vu struck him as he remembered the last time he had been there, Pegasus in tow, Isis there to greet them at the door.

-but, there was no one. The darkness permeating the lobby was not odd, as Atem knew the building had been closed since the death of the curator. But the glass doors were unlocked when Jounouchi went for one, and there was no one in sight to greet them or guard the merchandise openly displayed inside.

No one answered when Jounouchi called "Hello?! …Rishid?! Malik! Isis!"

"…maybe they're already inside?" Honda suggested, but Atem couldn't help but frown as he looked about for some explanation.

"Isis was here to escort me and Pegasus last time."

"-well, maybe she left the door open for us because she's busy!" Jounouchi decided, and the pharaoh couldn't think of any argument for that.

Nothing to say, he followed his friends deeper into the museum. Everything was as he remembered- The display lights had been left on, as if visitors would be by any second to appreciate the relics they showcased. But the silence was suffocating as they tread down one hall, then another, and then another, the echo of their footsteps their sole company as they hunted for any sign of life.

"-where's that tablet supposed to be, anyways?" Jounouchi asked, eyeing the remains of a mummified cat as they walked passed with a disturbed expression.

"Isis said it wasn't in storage. It should be on display somewhere," Atem pointed out, struggling to how winded he was getting, trying to keep up with the two on short legs and worn lungs.

"Shouldn't there be a map or something listing it, then?" Honda scanned the shadowed walls, looking for some sign of directions. "Even if it's in Arabic it'd be better than nothing, wandering ar-  _Hey_!"

Atem spun about, following Honda's wide gaze only to start himself when he spotted-

"Isis?!"

The pharaoh bolted down the hall, Honda and Jounouchi close at his heels and right there with him as he fell to his knees before the woman. She was sprawled out on her side within the threshold of an open room, a glass of what might have been water or soda or something spilt just inches from her hand. She had looked unconscious,  _must_  have been, but her eyes fluttered at their calls and the touch of Honda's hand on her arm.

"Hey! Can you hear us?! Talk to us, I-"

"Guys!" Jounouchi yelled over Honda's cries, the sharp edge in his own voice warning Atem to look up from the fallen Ishtar… Only to freeze when he saw what Jounouchi had.

Malik, slowly dragging a collapsed Rishid towards the far end of the room by his leg.

"-Malik!" The teen immediately froze when Atem snapped his name… But instead of answering, or even looking up, he dropped Rishid's limb and turned around, walking the rest of the way across the room unburdened.

"What the hell, man?!" Jounouchi screamed after him, glowering at his retreating back. "What are you-"

"It's-" Isis couldn't manage more than that at first, hacking on a breath, but the single syllable drew the pharaoh's gaze back to her, and he watched as she struggled to sit up. Honda helped her stay upright, and she held hand to her throat as she struggled to speak. "That is…  _not_  Malik."

"What do you mean?" Jounouchi asked, but the knee-jerk question already reeked of denying dread- The same dread that ran like ice through Atem's veins as he slowly looked back at that distant figure.

"Keh keh… Too bad- I thought I would have more time to set my trap."

"N-no way," Honda breathed behind him, but Atem didn't dare take his eyes off of what was definitely  _not_  Malik. The voice- The voice was too deep, too ragged, all wrong- But familiar.

Stopping just beneath The Tablet of Memories, 'Malik' reached for something notched in his belt, then bent over to grab something else off of the floor- Something large, and heavy. Only then did he turn around and show himself for what he was- An eye glowing upon his brow, pale locks standing on end, the Millennium Rod in one hand… A sledgehammer in the other… And a twisted smile at his lips.

"No matter, this will due…  _Welcome_ , pharaoh, to my game!"

"- _what_?!" Jounouchi cried, echoing the alarmed denial bouncing through Atem's own mind as he stared, eyes frozen wide as he struggled and failed to accept the sight in front of him. "You- You're  _dead_!"

"Am I?" the stowaway in Malik's skin drawled, giving off another laugh that twisted Atem's nerves into knots. "Funny- I don't remember being born! Unless you count-"

"Why are you here?" Atem interrupted, his nails cutting into his palm as he clenched his hands tight at his sides. "Malik overcame you- He banished you from his heart! How could you-"

"Be back?" he finished for him, those violet, near-black eyes narrowing into leering slits. When Atem didn't speak, didn't deny it, they shut completely as he threw back his head and roared out a short laugh. "I  _never left_! My ' _main personality_ ' might have denounced me, but  _nothing_  can destroy me! I am eternal!"

"Oh yeah?!" Honda countered, glowering at the quieting psychopath so hard he was practically grimacing. "When Malik tossed you out, you seemed pretty anxious for a guy who can't die!"

All 'Malik' did was smile, the expression as jarring as his laugh had been. Atem could almost swear there was something beneath the humor - something that churned with meaning for Honda's jab. But it was too deeply buried to read, and not worth the time- Not  _then_.

"What do you want?" he said, drawing that monster's gaze back to his. "Why are you here  _now_?!"

"Keh heh, what- You can't guess?" 'Malik' teased, the amused taunt turning Atem's light lunch in his stomach- A physiological tell to his own rising awareness. For even though it made  _no sense_ , the timing was too much. There was no way this was a random resurgence. And so, even as his mind failed to follow the reality, it wasn't exactly  _shock_  the pharaoh felt when the evil double answered with a wide gesture of his arm. "I want a duel. One of the- What are we calling it? Duel of Sacrifice and Shade?"

"What are you… How… How could you know about that?" Atem asked, the confirmation of intent doing  _nothing_  to explain " _Why_?" he would make such a demand. How... How could he be involved in this? How could  _he_  invoke that dark game?

"What, you haven't put it together?" The fresh taunt was accompanied by the tilt of a dark chin, those eyes leering up violet, then black, then iced blue and then black again in an eerie shift of color that made Atem's vision swim. "I am the one you call 'The Devourer' -just as much as Tariq and Amir's shades were!"

Atem heard the claim, the scramble of someone's feet nearly giving out behind him, and Jounouchi's scream of "What the hell does that mean?!" as if from a distance, his hearing and sight and skin going numb with confusion and incomprehension.

Him…  _He_  was The Devourer? As much as… What?!

"Impossible-" Isis breathed behind him, the one who likely nearly collapsed a moment ago given how breathless she sounded. But she had found her voice and her bite again by the time she stepped up beside him, eyes only for the  _thing_  impersonating Malik. "You have haunted my brother for years! The Devourer just revealed himself weeks ago- He has been hiding specifically until this moment! How could you possibly-"

"Enough questions," the villain interrupted, sounding utterly bored with Isis's argument, his posture lazy one moment and then striking with sudden movement when he raised the Millennium Rod and pointed it straight at them. "You want answers? Then earn them through your cards!"

Before Atem could even think to respond a hand came down on his shoulder, jerking him around to face Honda and his anxious frown. "You can't fight that guy- It's obviously a trap!"

"-oh? Would you actually ignore my challenge, pharaoh? Turn tail and run?" The questions were far, far too calm, and where Atem's pulse rushed at the questions it utterly stopped when he turned back and saw the false Malik walking leisurely towards Rishid, the smallest of smiles on his face. "Because I can't decide which is better incentive – blood or stone – but I'll rain down  _both_  if that's what it takes to make you fight."

"Rishid-" Isis breathed, but there was no need. Honda released her and all four of them rushed towards the unconscious man.

Jounouchi was nearly there – bending over to reach Rishid with the rest of them just behind him – when a bright light flashed in their eyes and a force far stronger, far more  _real_  than any hologram blast slammed into Atem, knocking him back in a flurry of light and a chorus of cries from his friends.

It was only when he landed hard on his back – his bruised body screaming, his legs pinned beneath a moaning Honda, a cackle bouncing off the walls around them – that Atem realized the doppelganger must have used the Rod.

" _Oooohh_ , that felt good!" he breathed, Atem's skin crawling at the sheer pleasure in that voice as 'Malik' smiled at the lot of them, the Millennium Rod aloft in his grip as they all struggled to rise. "Please,  _try again_. This might not work on your  _minds_  the way it would with others, but it will buy me enough time to cut out Rishid's tongue and toss it to you!"

The pharaoh's eyes instantly jumped to the downed Ishtar, the blood on the back of his bald head shining in the light of the Item. That must have been where Malik hit him, while controlled by the…  _Shade_ … But that didn't matter right then. What mattered was how his attacker was now far closer to him than Atem or his friends, and that threat was  _no bluff_.

But, instead of moving closer and actually harming the man, 'Malik'  _backed up_. When he was nearly at the far wall he moved the Rod to his belt again so he could grip the sledgehammer properly in both hands… Raising it up within feet of the Tablet of Memories. "Or, should we start with the stone? You think your Sun Pendant will work on it when it's shattered in a thousand pieces?"

Atem said nothing- He couldn't. His very bones had turned to lead as he looked from the villain to the tablet and back, eyes frozen wide.

"…no?" 'Malik' asked, the faintest touch of disappointment in his voice before he brushed off with a casual little shrug. "Have it your way then." He turned to face the stone slab, hefting the sledgehammer up in the air.

"Stop!" Atem got out the words just in time, even as his stomach rolled with how he had caught his enemy mid-swing- That he was  _really going to do it_. "Fine! If you want a fight-"

"No way!" It was Jounouchi who snapped that time, grabbing Atem's arm and twisting him about, completely ignoring the killer just yards away in favor of glowering down at the pharaoh. "You might be walking around but you're still reeling from that last fight!"

"Yeah-" Honda joined in, his own disapproval contained but shining through his frown. "If you lose even 100 life points, who knows what will happen!"

Atem had a fairly good idea, but even if his gut twisted with worry for the flesh he borrowed, he  _had_  to do this. He  _had_  to yank his arm free and glare up at them. "I can't let him destroy the tablet or hurt Rishid! And  _Malik_ \- He's controlling the real one! I have to-"

"We know that!" Jounouchi yelled back, bringing them to an abrupt impasse. They glowered at one another for a long, stiff, silent moment… And then the tall blond's gaze slid over Atem's shoulder, focusing on the false Malik with a purposeful glint in his eye. "That's why I'm dueling him in your place."

He- He couldn't have heard that right. Atem couldn't believe it- Couldn't accept it enough  _to_  hear it. But as Jounouchi moved to step around him, closer to his would-be opponent, Atem was forced to accept it in the blink of an eye- And his own hand shot out to bar Jounouchi's way. "You can't! You could die!" He sounded desperate, not firm, but he couldn't help it- He could  _not_  watch that. Not after what happened in the last two duels- Not after Jounouchi nearly died the  _last_  time he fought that same opponent! He couldn't risk losing him…  _Not him_! "And it  _could_  be a trap! If you lose this duel-"

"Atem-" Jounouchi's voice had fallen back to a near whisper, and yet the quiet naming easily sailed over the pharaoh's warnings. "You trust me, right? Do you think I'm going to let myself die before I get to see Yuugi again?"

…he couldn't answer. The question had stolen any strength Atem had left to speak with. But he couldn't break Jounouchi's steady stare, either, and the 'No' must have shown in the pharaoh's face, because a second later Jounouchi took hold of Atem's arms, squeezing so tight it hurt.

"Then don't go saying dumb shit like that! I'm not about to lose before we find him! And I told you, we're  _here to help you_ \- So give us a chance to goddamn do it!"

What was there to say in the face of such passionate determination? How could Atem deny the strength of that desire – the need to see Yuugi again – when  _he_  ached for the same thing with every beat of his borrowed heart?

What in that world could the pharaoh relate to more? Trust more?

"…fine-" he whispered, reaching up and slowly peeling Jounouchi's fingers off of his arms. His friend's grip gave easily beneath his touch, and once Atem was free he looked up into his face… and smirked. "But only if you swear to win."

The steel in Jounouchi's eyes gave way and the two shared a smile, the blond shooting him a thumbs up. "You know it- I'll show him for the both of us!"

"Funny…" cut-in a quiet voice. The brief cheer faded in an instant as the two looked up and saw 'Malik' staring at them, eyes shining in the dark. "But hilarious as it would be to  _burn_  that fool again, I said  _I would fight_ _ **you**_ _, pharaoh_."

"Then earn the right to fight him, if you wish it. Go through us." Isis had gotten to her feet again, and she pulled away from Honda's support as she turned to Jounouchi. "If this is a Duel of Sacrifice and Shade, then there must be two in this fight- Allow me to be your partner."

"-are you sure?" Jounouchi asked, all certainty and insistence gone from his features when he faced the Ishtar sister in place of his friend. But Isis displayed enough confidence for the both of them, granting him a short nod even as she continued to stare at 'The Devourer' out of the corner of her eye.

"I thought I would never fight him myself, after Kaiba defeated me… But it seems fate is not to be evaded. And I am prepared. I know as well as you do what happens in these duels."

-none of them had anything to say to that. There was nothing  _to_  say, and Atem tightened his fists against the urge to stop them- To tell them not to take this risk. It stung, but what could he do? He could not die… And he could not tell them it wasn't worth it…

All he could do was swallow his ire as Isis turned completely towards the enemy and asked "The Duel Disks?" in an even, chilled tone.

The thing in Malik's skin walked towards Rishid and reached down towards the unconscious form. All of them jolted in fear that he was about to enact one of his many threats, but before anyone could speak the figure rose again with a duffel bag in hand- The same one Rishid had pulled the Millennium Scales from back at the hospital. Malik's double pulled one Duel Disk from it, then tossed the bag across the room so that it landed just inches from their feet.

As Jounouchi slowly approach the duffel – wary of any potential trap – his soon-to-be opponent drawled on, his attention pinned on Isis. "Fine then… If I have to slaughter you two to reach his throat, then I will savor the chance to watch you collapse in a pool of your own blood. Pharaoh-" he cried with sudden volume, a smile playing maniacally at his lips as he pointed towards him. "Keep your eyes open and watch as I shred your friends to pieces! It will be the last thing you'll ever see before I take your life!"

"The only thing I will be seeing is  _you_  disappearing in smoke!" Atem snapped back in kind, turning his fear to rage with the ease of breathing.

Alas, it had little visible effect on Malik's possessor, his smile twitching even wider before he calmed, dropping his stance turn on his Duel Disk with no more answer than "We'll see…"

Jounouchi passed a Duel Disk to Isis and took a third from the bag for himself. They wasted no time, placing the disks on their arms, pulling out cards, setting them in the deck slot- And all Atem could do was watch as the two stepped forward and a fog burst forth to swallow them up.

"H-hey!" Honda called, but it was no use- Isis and Jounouchi kept facing forward, and beyond them the figure of Malik Ishtar blurred and split into two.

"Malik!" It was Isis who called, but even though she was no more than a yard away, the cry reached Atem in a broken ripple, as though carried through water.

Malik's own strained "…what-" sounded even fainter and farther away, but Atem heard it all the same- Watched the Ishtar's features shift in the light of his summoned candles. He saw when awareness sparked- The moment Malik realized his predicament, and cleared lilac eyes dilated, pinned on his sister from across the duel field.

"Welcome back, 'Master'-"

Malik snapped around to stare at his double in shock, rage rising fast on its heels. "You-"

"Kah hah hah! Don't act so surprised! You've known about me for weeks!"

Atem's eyes narrowed as he listened, the way Malik flinched at the claim only heightening his suspicions. Surely- Malik wouldn't have hidden this if he had known. He wouldn't endure his shadow side's presence if he could help it!

"I have been awake since the Black Chamber-" The interloper went on. "The evil there drew me out of the darkness and I could hear  _his_  voice telling me it was time- That I could regain control of you and fulfill my destiny." The dark double pointed an accusing finger at his original, triumph and cruelty in his leer. "But you didn't want to believe that I was back, and your denial gave me the chance I needed to gather my strength- To make my move!"

"-what do you mean?" Honda called out, his confusion cutting through any self-preserving sense to stay quiet. "Whose voice-"

"I did  _not_  know it was you!" Malik said, completely cutting over Honda's question without even a glance in his direction. In fact,  _none_  of the duelists acknowledged Honda's words. "You sound- You sound just like my own thoughts!"

"-what's going on? Why didn't they even look at me?" Honda asked, looking from one Malik to the other before focusing closer, to the two just in front of him. But Jounouchi and Isis didn't turn around, and Honda moved to step closer. "Jounouchi?!"

"-they can't hear us," Atem said, staying Honda with an outstretched arm. "Look around."

The pharaoh didn't turn back himself, but he heard and sensed his friend jolting as Honda belatedly took in their surroundings. Atem didn't need to look to know that the museum room had disappeared- Even Rishid, who had been no more than a few feet from Malik, was gone, swallowed up by the fog that claimed the world during the strange ritual of candles and darkness and blood. Rishid must have been left behind because he was unconscious… If not worse… But even Atem and Honda were not part of it. They couldn't touch the proceedings, and Atem knew in his gut that trying would only hurt them. But they  _were_  there. They could see, and hear, and he was still not sure what would happen if Jounouchi and Isis lost…

"-it doesn't matter what you say, you do not control me anymore-" Malik was saying, his earlier words lost to Atem's notice in his effort to stop Honda from chancing the fog. "The pharaoh told me how these fights go- If I lose, you lose. And I will  _forfeit_  before I'll let you use me again!"

"Malik!" Isis cried, her usual composure cracked down the center by her brother's threat. "If you do that, your life points will fall to zero and you will die!"

The pale-haired teen looked across the field to his sister, his expression schooled into a stillness that somehow only heightened the grim determination in his eyes. "…if it has to happen anyway-"

"I thought you would say that," The double-  _The Devourer_  said, his untroubled smirk the only warning they had before he drew his first cards from his deck. "That's why I'll be taking the first turn-" He looked over his hand and gave off a laugh- An unrestrained cackle Atem had hoped to never hear again. "I play Meteor of Destruction on Isis- And she loses 1000 life points!"

The dark, fogged world burst into fire, a ball of light zooming towards the named woman and engulfing her in a blink.

"Isis!" Jounouchi called in answer to her smothered cry, but it was Malik who looked truly struck by the blow, recovering too late as his 'shade' announced  _another_  spell.

"Then I play Tremendous Fire and take 500 points damage to inflict another 1000 on her!"

The entire field was aflame now, the delighted screech of the caster all but drowning out Isis's own scream- And both smothered by Atem's own call as he couldn't help but yell "No!" from his impotent place on the sidelines.

He could do nothing, though- Not then, and not when the shade recovered enough to laugh over the dying flames. "KAH HAH HAH- And  _then_  I play Goblin Thief to regain my lost 500 and take  _another_  500 from her!"

There was barely a sound that time when the card's effect finally cleared. What had been worry and anxiety a moment ago had turned to bleak awareness. None of them could help. None of them could reach out to catch the woman as she collapsed to her knees in pain, blood dripping down her face.

None of them could deny the meaning of the fifteen black candles still lit before her, the lost twenty-five still giving off smoke.

"Damn it…" Jounouchi cursed just within hearing, hands shaking with his own frustrated fury.

It was nothing, though, next to what Atem could see on Malik's distant face- The worry. The awareness. The cornered helplessness.

And still the shade was not done, musing aloud about what they all already knew for the sake of rubbing salt in a freshly cut wound. "And that leaves our sister with… 1500 life points. Fifteen candles… That means that the instant the duel ends, she will fall into one of those comas. Like your Jeu, or Pegasus… Or maybe she'll just end up  _dead_  like Amir."

For the briefest moment Atem could had sworn the monster's smirk was directed at  _him_ , but it was a quick thing. In a blink those narrow eyes – now a familiar, sickly blue – turned on Malik. The shade stared at the stricken Ishtar like his distress- his barely contained  _rage_  was the finest thing he had ever seen.

"Still want to quit,  _Master_?"


	23. Chapter 23

“What is- Jounouchi-kun! Honda-kun! Atem!!”

“Are you guys in there?!”

“-that's Anzu!! And Bakura!" Honda turned around, searching for the source of the disembodied, echoing calls, until he finally had to give up and settle for frowning at Atem. "Where are they?!”

“Back in the actual museum- I hope,” the pharaoh answered, not bothering to turn and look for the two himself as their voices faded away- Like a car passing by the dead of night. His own nerves might itch with concern for them - no one had ever tripped over one of these perverse duels before, there was no telling if and how Anzu and Bakura could touch it - but he couldn't take his eyes off of the duel.

“I summon Revival Jam and activate Jam Defender,” Malik was announcing, the familiar bulbous blob popping up above the light of- was it a hundred candles?

The fight had been going on for some turns, with monsters being summoned and sent back to the graveyard so fast Atem could barely keep track of them. No higher level summons had lasted a single turn on the field, much less gotten a hit in- Isis’s Threatening Roars, Dimension Walls, Sakuretsu Armors, and Thunder of Rulers saw to that. Jounouchi was more direct and strove over and over to land an attack on the dark variation of Malik, to no avail. But the original Ishtar had done little at all, save inform Atem by his behavior. Malik refused to attack, proving that however his shadow might threaten and coax the Ishtar heir could act on his own will- A feat Banoub and Amir had seemed incapable of. Instead, Malik focused on playing healing traps, activating a pair of Solemn Wishes on his second turn so that he gained an extra 1000 life points every time he drew a card.

1000… Enough to cancel out Revival Jam’s effect cost should he need to re-summon it to the field. And he had already amassed so many life points that the forty candles Atem was used to seeing had doubled, nearly tripled to envelop Malik in flickering light- The twenty black flames at his feet surrounded by a sea of white. It was impressive, but pointless. Malik had suffered no threat of life point loss during the duel. Isis continued to do little but protect herself and her ally from further harm, and as Jounouchi took up his own turn he continued to send his warriors solely against the shade.

“Thanks to Command Knight and Comrade Swordsman of Landstar, my Rocket Warrior is more than enough for your Twin-Headed Behemoth! Take it out, Rocket Warrior!”

“…I block you-” ‘The Devourer’ said- So belatedly the delay had to be on purpose, a tease of triumph snatched away at the last minute by the flip of a trap. “Blazing Mirror Force! It takes out your attacking monsters- And inflicts half of their original attack points on both of us!”

“What?!” Honda proclaimed, gawking at the unhearing duelists before turning to Atem- The only one who knew he was there. “But, Jounouchi has three monsters- How much is that?”

“Sixteen hundred,” Atem answered, his words flat and sharp as flint as he stared, his mind numbing at the edges with rage he could not, and would not give voice to as he watched Jounouchi’s monsters disappear and both men stumble- Jounouchi with a curse, the shadow with a cackle. “Sixteen candles.”

“T-That’s,” Honda tried to reply, but there was nothing to say. They both saw the truth for what it was- Jounouchi and Isis lowered to 2400 and 1500 life points each with no monsters on the field while the shade had two already summoned and Malik could do nothing but fortify himself. They were at a disadvantage-

Unless Jounouchi could recover before the end of his turn.

“I-” Jounouchi sniffed hard, and though he couldn’t see his face, Atem could imagine the blood he wiped from his nose. “I set two cards face down, and summon Alligator’s Sword in defense mode. Then… Then I end my turn!”

Atem stared at the facedown cards. Could there be enough there for Jounouchi to turn the duel around somehow? Quite possibly… But when he looked up his eyes fell on Malik’s worse half. His figure had faded into half-shadow with his own life points loss. It made him look much more like the previous shades the pharaoh had seen, but he was still more than recognizable. And those eyes - the ones that had turned blue at the start of the duel - were lingering on Jounouchi’s cards, clearly considering the same question as Atem had… And smiling.

“-I sacrifice Dark Jeroid to summon the Great Maju Garzett.” The dark duel monster rose to the field, his attack points displayed as a healthy 2400 for all to see. Atem’s gaze shifted quickly to Jounouchi, hoping he would turn a card and prove that he could already block whatever the shade had planned.

He didn’t. Jounouchi did nothing. Only frowned up at the monster that could attack him or Isis at its player’s whim.

But… the shade made no such call.

“-I then skip my battle phase,” he said instead - making them all jolt before he even moved - and turned over three face down cards at once. “To target Alligator’s Sword with three Nightmare Wheels!”

“What-” Jounouchi couldn't even finish his sentence before his monster was suddenly trapped on a familiar spiked wheel- The same one his opponent had used on Mai what felt like a lifetime ago. But it didn't stay identical for long, the holograms and ritual depicting the shade's triple use by increasing the size of the trap three-fold, the jawed creature on the wheel growing with it and turning into something far more gruesome- Its bones black, its teeth longer, and so much sharper above the Alligator's Sword's head.

“You remember this trap, right?” the shade whispered, his grin only spreading wider when Jounouchi glared at him for his tone. “You can't move or attack with your monster now, and at the start of my next turn you will lose- Keh heh, it would be 500 life points... But now it's 1500!”

“What?!” Honda cried, but Atem didn't answer- Did nothing but clench his fists and glare, even as that shadow ignored him there, standing behind Jounouchi in the shadows.

“Guh- So what?!” Jounouchi called, glowering back in a clear refusal to be intimidated. “I still have time! You think we can't beat you in a couple turns?! Get rid of this thing by then?!”

“No,” the shade said evenly, his smile no less menacing for how small it was. “And even if you could, I'm not leaving you be that long... That's not the only card I have more than one copy of.”

“No,” Atem breathed without thinking, earning a confused look from Honda- But there was no time to speak before Malik's double held up a card.

“Tremendous Fire!”

“That-” Jounouchi grit out before flames burst forth once more, shooting up from all of the candles to blast towards the teen and his dark opponent.

“Jounouchi-” Isis managed to say, the call of a wounded warrior watching a fellow soldier take a shot and fall.

But he didn’t fall- Not fully. Jounouchi hunched over but stayed up, all limp shoulders and stiff knees and gasping breaths... as his candles dwindled down to a mere fourteen.   
  
Atem wanted so badly to reach out- To take the burden of pain from his friend and turn that fire completely on ‘Malik’- But it was useless. He could not reach him, and the shade was chuckling even as he sizzled- Even as his own candles went out, down to a mere nineteen blacks.

“You-” Isis swallowed, visibly gathering her own composure back together before leveling her gaze on the virtual arsonist. “You just put _yourself_  below the safe level. If you win now-” 

“I?” the thing breathed, narrowing his eyes on his 'sister' with something too sinister and tense for amusement. “I am not weak like  _him_ \- I do not bleed. I will go on so long as I have a single candle, and use my 'master's' flesh that he is keeping so safe!” 

The creature sneered at his host, and Malik stared death right back at him and spit out “What are you? You say you're The Devourer but if you are the voice that’s been whispering in my ear, you couldn't have attacked the pharaoh in the ruins and here at the museum before- You never  _shut up long enough_  to do it.”

“Oh? You think a consciousness can’t be in more than one place at once?” the shadow whispered, the words all too clear for their softness.

Honda hesitated, but eventually turned his uncertain stare on the only person who could hear him. “Is, he talking about Malik, in Battle City-”

“-how he used the Rod to channel his mind through others? Yes,” Atem acknowledged, gaze catching on the Item still caught on Malik’s belt before sliding his attention upwards. It was clear that the Ishtar heir recognized the jab, too, even if he didn’t give his double the satisfaction of a flinch. They all remembered that tournament, when Malik not only managed to relay his voice and will through ‘puppets’ who worked for him, but spoke through Anzu even as his spirit hung conscious and suspended in the air during that final duel. A mind clearly  _could_  be in two or more places at once.

But- What was the shade saying, invoking that memory?

“Are you suggesting that your will is in multiple places at once? That you are possessing other people, right now?” Isis asked, drawing the shade’s smirk off of his sacrifice.

“Keh heh, that depends what you mean…” He looked over her shoulder to the pharaoh, half-hidden within the veil’s fog. Atem would have done anything in that moment to wipe that smile off of the shadow’s face, but he remained as he was, pushing aside the impotent desire in favor of _listening_. “I remember every detail of the duels the pharaoh fought against Tariq and Amir as though I were there myself. But I had no control in those fights. I was merely _aware_ … Connected to the minds of those shades, as branches are to the same tree.”

“Then, are you the trunk, or another branch?” Atem couldn’t see Isis’s face as she spoke, but it didn’t matter- Her question sent his attention instantly back to the shade, awaiting the answer with held breath. “Are you ‘The Devourer’ himself?”

“No…” the shadow breathed, something dark and bright and proud passing over his face as he answered, gesturing outward with the hand that held his cards. “I am  _more_ \- Every fool who falls at his hand or lets him into their heart is touched by The Devourer, left with an imprint of his will that feeds on the sacrifice’s emotions. Anger… Pain… Loss… Grief…  _Hatred_. And every sacrifice is different- Every emotion. Every shade starts out like  _him_ , but shifts with its host… Amir’s was simple- He was _nothing_  but The Devourer’s victim, and the shadow had little to feed on save his _despair_.”

Atem said nothing to interrupt, but it was a struggle- The urge to snap was so strong that he had to grit his teeth as the curator’s dull, defeated eyes flashed in his mind. The idea… The very idea that the ‘man’ in front of him was not just Malik’s bane and an old enemy thought vanquished, but in some sense the same  _thing_  that tortured Amir Hatim and stole his autonomy? Led his widow to grieve and put Pegasus in a hospital bed? That put Jeu in a coma…!

“But Tariq’s shade flourished on the guard’s bitterness. The Devourer entered his mind years ago and saw his anger towards his wife- She was having an affair. And the fool offered up his soul to a  _voice inside his head_  to have her lover killed, never imagining it would  _work_ … That the shade would use his own hands to do the deed!” The shade turned his ice blue eyes on his duel partner, smirking the instant he saw the scathing look on Malik’s face. “But you know something about listening to the voices in your head… Don’t you, master?”

“Stop it…” The words were little more than a whisper, but the sheer hate in them sent a chill up Atem’s spine. He had never thought he would hear Malik sound like  _that_  again.

“Shadow-” Isis spoke up, something in her voice drawing Atem’s gaze her way- Though he could read nothing of her thoughts with her back turned to him. “You have explained your link to the other shades. But if you are only a branch, then where is the root? Who is the  _original_  devourer?”

The shade said nothing, a subtlety to his smile that somehow made it all the more unnerving.

“…if you will not answer then, move-” Isis demanded in a quiet, even tone. “Or end your turn.”

“Keh heh…” The shadow breathed, letting his chuckle fade into nothing as he made one smooth gesture over his duel disk. “I set two cards face down and end my turn…”

“Very well…” And Isis began her own, drawing one card and giving it a single, quick glance before focusing on what she had already set on the field. “Then I activate my two trap cards- Both Needlebug Nest. Between them, I send ten cards from my deck to my graveyard.” 

“Wait-” Jounouchi frowned, staring incredulously at Isis as she pulled a handful of cards out of the duel disk, looking over each one before disposing of it. “You’re getting rid of cards in your own deck?”

“Yes- And it seems fate is on my side,” she observed as she deposited the last one focused back on the true and false Maliks. She held up a card Atem couldn’t see, but he _could_ see the two she faced- Malik’s expression hazed with unreadable considerations while the shadow only stared, eyes hard and unpleasant. “For if I play this card – Foolish Burial – and use it to move one more Lightsworn monster to my grave, I will have just enough.”

“Enough for what?” Honda asked, focusing his question on Isis herself before seemingly recalling that the duelists could not hear him, and focusing instead on Atem.

  
But the pharaoh could only shake his head, his gaze still caught on the players, searching for any hint or clue in their shifting expressions. “I don’t know. She didn’t use these cards in her duel against Kaiba. I think Malik must know, though-” he mused, his gaze shifting slowly from the woman to her opponents. “And the shade.”

For that distaste Atem had observed in those cold blue eyes had shifted, heated into a broiling, barely contained rage that sizzled off of his lips on a quiet, ominous “ _You_ -”

“Have you foreseen my intentions?” Isis asked, seeing the same angry knowledge Atem did and refusing to flinch in the face of it. “Perhaps so, but I imagine you have not prepared for them- I use Foolish Burial to dispose of Rinyan, Lightsworn Rogue. And with that there are four Lightsworns in my graveyard, fulfilling the requirement to summon  _this_ -” She activated what Atem thought must have been the same card she drew at the beginning of her turn. A ball of light burst into a mass of white feathers and red claws. “Judgment Dragon.”

“Three thousand-” Jounouchi said, gawking at the readings on his duel disk before looking up at the dragon itself. “That thing is as strong as Blue Eyes!”

 _And just as large_ Atem thought as he looked up at the grand beast from behind, imposing in its stillness as it stood before the duelist who summoned it.

“Yes-” Isis acknowledged, still staring passed the dragon to the men beyond it. “However, even if I must send four cards from my deck to my graveyard at the end of every turn, Judgment Dragon boasts a special power the Blue Eyes White Dragon does not have… Though it will cost 1000 life points to activate.”

“What?!” Jounouchi shouted, giving voice to the same shock that flashed on Malik’s face and slashed through Atem’s heart. “But you’ve already lost too many life points- You’ll be left with just 500!”

“What are you doing, sister?” Malik breathed, voice hushed and barely discernible in the wake of Jounouchi’s cries but aching with the same dismay- _Tenfold_ the same dismay.

“Trust me.” That was all she said, all she offered them, eyes locked on her brother’s. Atem couldn’t see her face, but he thought he saw some reflection of her feelings in the way Malik’s own stare stuttered. There was confidence and determination in the echo of Malik’s uncertainty. Silence reigned only a breath before Isis cast out her hand. “Judgment Dragon, activate your effect!”

“Destruct Potion,” the shade instantly called out, flipping a trap over on his disk. “I destroy Great Maju Garzett myself, and gain its attack points as life points.” A bleak creature wrapped in a violet cloak with a skull on its chest appeared and grabbed the named duel monster with a large claw, squeezing it until it burst into a spray of hologram light that sprinkled down and lit all forty of the shade’s candles- Plus three more that faded in from the fog as Malik’s had on previous turns when his life points went over 4000. And in their light the shadows fell away from the shade’s form, leaving him standing as the pharaoh remembered him from the days of the Battle City tournament.

But, despite his initial fear when the shade announced his trap, Judgment Dragon’s effect remained active and revealed its power as every card on the field – every single monster, every single active trap and set spell – was wiped away.

Everything, save the Judgment Dragon itself.

As the effect faded away Isis’s attention slid from her brother to her ally. “My apologies for your monsters… But everything was destroyed with them, including the Nightmare Wheels. The threat your life points is gone, Jounouchi.”

“-thanks, Isis,” Jounouchi said, surprise and something like gratitude or awe or both hanging in his voice.

“I am not finished yet,” she assured him, her calm tones quickly replaced as she issued a loud, confident proclamation. “Battle Phase! Judgment Dragon- Attack the dark shadow of my brother!”

It was a testament to the technology – or proof of the dark ritual’s influence on the duel disks – that the dragon understood her meaning and focused on the correct opponent, opening its jaws to breathe out a blast of red light that completely enveloped the shade and his candles along with him. When the light faded away enough for Atem to lower his arm from his eyes, he saw that the candles had dwindled back down to thirteen black… And the duelist beyond them was near-completely blacked out. Only hints of color showed through here and there– a patch of pale blond locks standing on end, a bit of gold on an arm, those murderous eyes… The figure slowly straightened out of a pained crouch, and the silence felt like it would swallow them all, until Isis managed to breach it.

“…I also activate Sobek’s Blessing. This allows me to gain the battle damage I inflicted on you as life points.” And indeed, as Isis activated the spell, the dwindling number of flames at her feet multiplied sevenfold, leaving only five of her original forty candles unlit. The woman herself stood a little straighter, too, taking a deep breath and holding it in, the sound leaving Atem wondering just what it felt like. Could that bizarre, numbing pain be cast off so instantly? Did the injuries Isis endure physically reverse with the regaining of her life points?

He could only guess, but whatever the case may be Jounouchi spoke for the both of them when he looked to Isis’s lights and happily proclaimed “-you’re safe again!”

“Yes…” She acknowledged, setting a pair of cards face down before turning towards Jounouchi and speaking so quietly that Atem had to strain to catch her words, even standing just a few feet behind them. “Do you have any cards that will let you recover your own life points, Jounouchi?”

“-a couple,” he answered. The blond duelist looked furtively back towards Atem and Honda, so quickly the move was barely noticeable. But notice Atem did, his eyes narrowing in search of answers even as Jounouchi turned to Isis again and went on. “But I don’t have them in my hand, and one of them could put you back below 2000… Or make me lose.”

“…if it comes to that, then,” she declared, grim and steady as she faced forward once more. “We must continue to stall until you can draw and use one of them… And we find a way to help my brother.”

…was there such a way? Atem was uncertain. They knew so little about these ritualistic duels they were caught up in, but the clear-cut facts left little room for hope. Either one side would lose the fight - and their life - or the other would. And even victory did not ensure safety. But the pharaoh could not dwell on such facts- He had put his faith in Jounouchi, taken him at his word that he would survive the duel to see another day- To see Yuugi… And Isis had already proven herself more than capable of protecting herself. With Jounouchi’s support, she should be secure.

No, the bigger question was Malik himself. How, if Jounouchi and Isis were to win, was he to survive? Was it possible? Had Amir been merely a fluke, or a precedent? Had he died because of his lost life points or because he was on the losing side? Would he have lived if not for his health troubles? Atem wasn’t sure, and playing guessing games on the matter would help no one. All he could do, anyways, was watch- Turn his focus to Malik as Isis proclaimed the end of her turn, and the younger Ishtar’s began.

But he did not move. As the Twin-Headed Behemoth returned to the shade’s field by its own effect, Malik just kept staring at Isis’s freshly set cards with a grim sort of consideration in his eye. Was he weighing his options already? Or… did he perhaps, see something Atem did not?

The silence dragged on so long it was a wonder no one broke it, but finally Malik himself chose to move- Drawing a card before instantly playing another from his hand. “I play Nightmare’s Steelcage.”

Familiar spiked bars sprang up around Jounouchi and Isis, combining with the shadows to block the pair nearly from view- Block _everyone_ from view given. With the bars in the way, Atem and Honda could barely make out the Maliks at all.

But they could still hear them.

“Kah hah hah! How kind of you!” the shade laughed, the sarcasm in his voice so thick Atem imagined it coming off his lips like smoke. “Protecting me from death are you, master?”

 “What the hell, Malik?! We had a near-perfect opening on that ass! What are you doing?!” Jounouchi yelled, clearly suspecting the same thing.

Malik was quick to put the lie to that, though

“Do you really think my sister would attack him if it ended the duel, and I lost with him? That she will let you do it?”

“Brother…” Isis breathed, and in that single sound Atem recognized the truth to Malik’s claim. She wouldn’t have been able to do it… But if she wouldn’t land a decisive blow even on the shade, what could be done?

“I set two cards face down,” Malik said, going on as if he hadn’t heard his sister at all. “And end my turn.”

“That’s all?” There was no answer to Jounouchi’s question, and Atem could only imagine the look the two were shooting each other until his friend finally snorted. “Tch, fine.” There was a pause and the pharaoh caught a slip of movement through the bars as Jounouchi presumably drew his card. Then a silence, nothing happening for four, maybe five seconds, before Jounouchi spoke again, a flash of holograms before him marking the summoning of a monster. “…I call Goblin Attack Force in attack mode- And activate Cup of Ace! A coin gets flipped and if it’s heads, I get to- Well, I guess Isis and I _both_ draw two cards. But if it’s tails, you two draw two-” Even as he spoke Atem could hear the virtual coin flipping in the middle of the field, landing out of sight. The silence that followed was sudden and palpable, and Atem clenched his fist against the certainty that struck him.

They lost the coin flip.

“It is alright, Jounouchi,” Isis quietly assured him, insistent calm in her voice. “You had to take a chance.”

“Did he?”

Two words- Two short syllables and whatever ease Atem had reclaim from Isis’s words scattered to the wind like dust. He couldn’t see him- Couldn’t see what had prompted that strange, soft tone from the shade. But he could put it together far too easily.

He must have drawn something- Something that… _What_?

“I wonder… If you will think it worth the risk, after this…”

“What’s he talking about?” Honda asked under the shade’s words, whispering despite the fact no one could hear them. Atem couldn’t answer, though.

“You didn’t…” It was Malik - the real one - his voice filled with a livid terror that set the pharaoh’s nerves off faster than anything had yet. “ _Which one_?”

 _What_? _What did that mean_?!

Atem couldn’t even say _what_ it was about the exchange that left his ears ringing. For all intents and purposes _every_ card that they had drawn in that fight could mean life or death. A single life point lost could snatch away his friends forever. And yet, he _knew_ in his heart – beating hard in his throat – that something was horribly, horribly wrong.

And the shade’s blast of a laugh only proved it.

“You… You might wish to forget me, ‘master’- Think that you can cast me off by letting go of the hatred you spawned me from, but you  _can’t_.” He spit the words, and Atem could barely see them but he could easily paint the rest of the scene in without any aid- See the shadow leering at the boy he had come from. Malik staring defiantly back, but his own disquiet slipping through between the seams. “Like the scars on your back, I am  _with you_ ,  _always_. You accepted my brand on your soul the night you opened your ears to my whispers and liked what you heard- That you need not be helpless to your pain and fate… That you could  _destroy_  fate itself, and bend it to your will!” The shadow… It sounded too- Too everything. Too relieved. Too cruel. Too ecstatic and desperate and menacing, like sharp shards shattering in all directions. And his words sliced wherever they fell. “And I was truly born in the cocoon of your hate! You spun me into something _beyond_ The Devourer’s echo! I am _more_ \- I am he, and I am _you_!”

What did that- Was that why Malik’s shade was different? Had Malik’s buried hatred of his fate- of _him_ created this enemy that stood before them?

“…but he foresaw that, too…” the shade whispered, knocking Atem out of his wonderings to strain and hear the quiet confessions wafting through shadow and steel. “The Devourer… He knew all along that I would grow beyond the confines of his will, and act as much on  _your_  will as his. My attempt to destroy the pharaoh prematurely… The death of our father… That was not him. That was  _all you_.” The shade gestured – pointing? – at Malik, but there was no answering movement and Atem himself stood frozen. The confession was so clouded, barely comprehensible, but was there truth in it? What was the link between The Devourer and the shadow now before him? How much of his true enemy was he truly hearing in the crazed laughter of that sharp-haired shadow?

“And this duel now… This is not him, either! Oh yes, he wanted me to fight. He dragged me out of the shadows and gave me control of you again just so I could destroy The Tablet of Memories and ‘bleed’ the king a little for him-” The distant figure turned sharply and gestured- Was he pointing to Atem?! Speaking to him? “But I will not leave you for him, pharaoh! The Devourer left me in pieces all this time-  _Knew_  my master would cast me off, and let it happen! All he has left for me, is this little torture session. He _expects_ me to dissolve again.”

Atem couldn’t speak- Couldn’t think properly or consider the implications as the shadow kept bleeding his dark, twisted soul out over them all.

“But I want more, and I will _have it_! I will tear down all of your friends… And then I will watch you  _scream_ , pharaoh-” He extended his arm in one quick snap of a motion, a card displayed face-up in his hand. “And I will do it with your own gods!”

He- He couldn’t see it. It was too far away and obscured from sight to make out as anything more than a blur. But just as he strained enough to discern a color – _yellow_ – a sharp gasp tore through the air. Jounouchi and Isis jerked back as if struck, their shock as clear as day even when Atem couldn’t see the proof of it in their faces.

And when they both managed to speak, he understood the cause- And instantly regretted the loss of his ignorance.

“H-How the hell did you get _that_?!”

“The… The _Winged Dragon of Ra_?!”


	24. Chapter 24

“The… The  _Winged Dragon of Ra_?!”

 _It couldn’t be_ , Atem thought, too caught in frozen denial to even shake his head. There was no way- Was it a forgery? A leftover fake from the Battle City tournament the shade put in Malik’s deck? But- But he had said  _gods_ \- He was going to use the  _gods_  against him, not  _god_. Did he have the other two, as well? 

 _How_?

“Yes,” the shade hissed, the gleam of his teeth catching Atem’s eye even through obstructing bars. “Isn’t it just perfect? I wanted to use this on the  _pharaoh_ , but at least I can finish what I started in the Battle City Semi-Finals!”

“You just  _try it_ ,” Jounouchi snapped, his words a vicious bite even as they shook with shock.

“How-” Isis strove to ask. “ _How_  could you have that card?! The pharaoh-”

“ _Had_  it, until a week and a half ago,” the shade corrected quietly, only to raise his voice to a near-scream. “Can you still hear us back there, pharaoh?! I’m sure you remember- The night you dueled Tariq Banoub?! Just before dinner?!”

“-what’s he talking about?” Honda asked.

“-I don’t know,” Atem insisted, glowering at nothing as he tried to think and speak at the same time. “I knew Banoub had to be connected to their disappearance since he knew they were missing, but before dinner? I ate at the apartment with all of you. And before that I was in my room, going over my deck-” He stopped, choking on the last word. Slowly he raised wide, struck eyes, staring blindly towards the hidden duelists.

Malik… Malik had come to get him for dinner.  _Malik_  had helped him pick up his cards!

“…what?” Honda reached out, grabbing his arm and attention. Before he could ask again, though, that confounded voice called out.

“…put it together yet, pharaoh?!” it cried, impatience and amusement strung between the syllables. “Do I need to spell it out for you?!”

“Malik…” Isis’s call to her brother was barely audible, weak and hidden in the echo of the shade’s scream.

The pharaoh's confused rage shriveled at the sound of her pain and the silence that followed, until Malik finally spoke, words heavy as lead but sparking like brimstone. “I spent days fighting the voice. Ignoring it, denying it… But in the end he didn’t even have to say anything. I was with the pharaoh, helping him put his cards away, and I saw them- And this wave hit me. The idea that- That I should  _have them_. No context, no reason. The desire was just  _there_ , like it had been knocked off of some dusty shelf inside my mind… Or as though s _omeone_  knocked it off.”

The last words came with a shift of voice and venom, hinting at how Malik had turned towards his ‘partner’ in the duel- A fact all but confirmed when the shade threw his own words right back at him. “It was still  _your_  desire. The memory of your longing for these cards was still there, buried within you! The want of their power and all they represent… The blind hopes you put on them!” 

-was that true? No, no it couldn’t be. It might have been months ago, but Atem remembered their final duel like it was yesterday- What Malik had gone through, and what he had set aside when he cast off this old shadow of his. He would _never_  sacrifice his newfound freedom to that shadow for the sake of the god cards!

But, that could only mean that the shade was more dangerous- More  _capable_  than the pharaoh had thought… And Atem swallowed back any potential to voice that fear as the shade  _confirmed_  it. “And when I control even a  _sliver_  of your heart I can use whatever whim of yours I like, dead or alive, to pull your strings- And that is  _nothing_  next to what I can do when I claim  _more_!” His chuckle reverberated through Atem’s head like a drum. “The things I could do- Things you would never  _dream_  of doing… I could bring you to your knees. Bring your worst nightmares to life with your own hands!!  _Oh_ , when I think about that announcement on that blimp- The one that interrupted my chance to kill Rishid… If it had come just a  _minute_  later…”

“Enough!” Malik screamed, the rage in his voice making the shadow cackle and Atem burst out.

“Malik! Don't listen to him!” It was obvious- If the shade gained control of Malik by weakening or tainting his heart, he must be taunting and torturing him to bring his anger and hate to the surface and take advantage of them!

But, it was no use- They  _still_  couldn’t hear him, and the pharaoh could only curse his helplessness until Malik found the will to fight all on his own, spitting his words out like they were something disgusting. “It doesn't matter- It doesn't matter what you could have done, because stealing those cards and hurting my brother and sister tonight will be the  _last_  things you will  _ever_  do in my skin!”

“Khah hah hah-!” Atem would have done anything to strangle that  _incessant laughter_  out of the monster, but all he could do was clench his hands so hard his blunt nails left grooves in his palm. “I wonder if you'll be so strong after watching your sister bleed to death right in front of you! I will burn her and Rishid and the pharaoh and  _all of them before I am done_!!”

“Not yet you won't!” Jounouchi cut in, snapping all of their attention back to him. “It's still my turn, you know!”

“Finish it, then,” the shade said, his quiet invitation somehow more amused than any of his earlier laughter.

The blond duelist said nothing, did nothing for some long moments. And when he finally moved, proclaiming his moves, Atem could hear the frown in his voice. “I set two cards face down, and end my turn.”

“Is that it?” Malik’s echo taunted, a chuckle in his throat that never properly came out. “So much for dodging your fate, Jounouchi Katsuya… Were you just trying to focus my wrath on  _you_? Well,  _nice try_ \- But I already planned on _taking you out first_. My turn!” Even without a cloak wafting behind him, the shadow managed to make a statement loud and clear, stretching his arm out beside him with a card in hand. “I have less than 2000 life points, which means I can special summon  _this_ monster- Endless Decay!” 

“Ugh, what the hell is  _that_?” Honda asked as he scrunched his nose, the very look of the monster making him think of a horrid stench. It appeared to be a mummy, but its arms were caught in mounds of wrappings while his rotting flesh showed between wide gaps in the linen.

“Fodder.” Atem answered in a short, flat word, ignoring Honda’s confused glance as he continued frowning at the shadowed duelist making his play.

“Then I set two cards face down- And immediately destroy them with Emergency Provisions to regain 2000 life points!” the shadow announced to a gasp from Isis and Atem’s own silent intake. He- he had just thrown away two trap or spell cards to gain twenty candles back when he already said he didn’t  _need_  them to survive the duel?

Was the shadow already preparing to power an attack by the Winged Dragon of Ra?!

“Finally, to save my normal summon for  _other_  needs-” came the quiet continuation, making the pharaoh’s stomach lurch with the unsaid confirmation. “I discard Belial - Marquis of Darkness from my hand to special summon Hardened Armed Dragon!”

“No-” Isis breathed, less than five steps from where the pharaoh stood. His heartbeat silently pounded an echo of the denial-

A denial Honda didn’t help by asking “But- But that means he’s got the three sacrifices he needs for the god card, right?!” 

Atem didn’t answer- Because he wanted to lie. Because he saw the train coming right for them, and he couldn’t pull his friends out from its path.

“Not so fast!” Jounouchi cried, pointing at the strange, small dragon that Malik’s double had just summoned. “I remember how powerful those gods are, how traps and stuff don’t work on them- But they will on that dragon!”

“ _What_?” the shade breathed, terrifying in his quiet lack of expression as Jounouchi flipped one of his two traps.

“Bottomless Trap Hole! Your dragon goes right to the graveyard!” And indeed, the monster shattered back into a spray of hologram shards. The resulting lighting of the field was just long enough for the pharaoh to catch the murderous glint in the shade’s eyes, before the darkness hid his face again.

“ _You_ …”

“Ha- _ha_ , way to go man!” Honda hollered as he pumped the air, and Atem felt no urge to remind him he wouldn’t be heard- Not when he was too busy smiling himself, relief and pride rushing through him.

“-well done, Jounouchi-san,” Isis said, unknowingly echoing the other two’s thoughts and earning a grin from Jounouchi before their enemy cut into their little scene.

“Don’t get so comfortable- You’ve only delayed the inevitable! This cage will fall eventually, and whether it’s now, or in another turn,  _I will burn you_.”

“Just keep on trying,” Jounouchi shot right back, unshaken in the face of thwarting his plans, and Isis was quick to breeze in behind him.

“Yes, _can_  you do anything else now?”

The shade’s gazed turned on the Ishtar lady and the pharaoh could only imagine the murderous look he must be giving her. But there was nothing he could do to them- He had emptied his own hands of cards when he used Emergency Provisions! The only thing left was the god card itself!

He never admitted the truth, but Isis took his silence as confirmation. “Very well, then. I shall take my own turn,” she said as she drew a card-

Only for the shade to interrupt with a smirking observation. “I won’t  _need_  many more turns to end you- Your Lightsworns have dwindled you down to near nothing! You will back yourself into a corner!”

Atem didn’t understand until he looked to Isis and squinted hard, staring at her, and her duel disk- Realizing with a sudden, uncertain shock, that Isis’s deck was nearly empty. Were there even five cards left?!

But… But she had dumped many of them into the grave herself- Not just as a direct cost for a Lightsworn but for its own sake, as with Needlebug Nest. It had been to summon Judgment Dragon, yes… But could she really have not foreseen this possibility?

Was she was doing what Atem thought she was?

Isis all but confirmed it herself with a calm “I prepared for that problem” before she turned to face Jounouchi, quietly asking “Do you have anything in your hand that will help you recover monsters or cards from the graveyard?”

“Uh-” Jounouchi looked uncertainly at her, eyed the silent duelists they fought, then turned back at the pharaoh himself- Hesitation in his eyes as they looked at one another through the veil. But Atem could do no more himself than slowly nod. He had never heard that tag partners  _couldn’t_  answer such questions, after all. Even with the uncertainty that must be hanging in his maroon eyes, Jounouchi took his approval to heart, giving a quick, even nod to Isis without saying a word.

“Good… In that case,” Isis said, her words picking up volume as she faced forward and flipped a single card. “I activate my set trap, Exchange of the Spirit, which swaps all of our graveyard cards for our decks!”

“-that card?!” Jounouchi cried, shock and delight staining his face as Honda give his own cheer.

“Hey, that’s the one she used in Battle City!”

“Exactly,” Atem answered, giving no further reaction than an expectant grin. Yes, Isis was using the method in new ways with her Lightsworns and Judgment Dragon, but she was still relying on swapping cards around. The move might have touched them all and left  _her_  with the only thick deck, but with Jounouchi’s reassurance she knew he would be fine. It was their _opponents_ who had to worry now.

They didn’t have to do anything- the disks moved the cards on their own, leaving the shade an opening to do nothing but think up creative ways to kill his would-be sister. What could the shade do now? He had a couple monsters on the field, but he couldn’t summon the only card in his hand, and the missing two gods were likely in the graveyard now!

They were slowly, but surely trapping him.

And yet, even  _then_  he found a way to slip between their fingers, letting off a small, black chuckle that made them all tense once again. “You know, I should  _thank you_ \- You just activated the effect of one of my monsters- One that comes to the field if it is tossed into the graveyard by  _you_ \- Despair from the Dark!”

The hologram lights came on once more, bursting up spitting up before the shade like a fountain- A fountain that quickly darkened to the color of tar and flame until violet, jagged claws came out, followed by a horned face- The only part of its form not covered in shadow its leering eyes and teeth.

One look at it, and Atem had to stifle a surreal shock. It- It looked far too much like how he pictured The Devourer in his mind, unhidden by his sacrifices.

But it was not- It was just a regular duel monster, and not even the strongest on the field. …but it _was_ a potential third sacrifice.

“It matters not-” Isis said, finding her own reasons not to quake as she faced the high-leveled monster. “The Steel Cage of Nightmare will stop all attacks for another turn, yours included. You cannot use it, or any of your monsters… So, I set two more cards face down, and end my turn.”

The shade said nothing in answer, and for some moments the pharaoh was left in the dark, sharing an uncertain frown with Honda as they both strove to see passed the bars and understand what the hold-up was. It, had to be Malik himself- It was his turn.

Indeed, there must be  _something_ wrong, for after a moment Jounouchi tentatively called out “Uh… Malik?” with far too much alarm to be simple confusion.

There was no direct answer, though, and after another minute - maybe two - he finally spoke. “I- activate my traps- Reckless Greed, and Reckless Greed, and draw 4 cards, giving up my next draw phase to do it. Then I… play Mystical Space Typhoon… And destroy, Steel Cage of Nightmare.”

“Wait, wh-” Honda began to ask, only to cut off and cover his face like the rest of them as the cage shattered before their eyes, the virtual display so real that Atem tensed in expectation of a bit of steel hitting him. Nothing touched him, though, and slowly he opened his eyes again… The dueling field once again cleared of any obstacle to his sight.

And so he had a perfect view of Malik- His tense, hunched posture, his eyes twitching wide, his hands clenching so hard it was a wonder he didn’t bend his cards…

“…brother?” Isis asked, her call striving for coaxing but catching with obvious, underlying panic.

“He’s  _hesitating_  right now,” the shade said in would-be explanation, grinning at ‘his’ sister with nothing approaching reassurance in his gaze. “But just give him a moment.”

“…I play, Double Summon. It lets me, summon twice, this turn…” he finally said, stumbling through each word, his fingers shaking so much it was a wonder he didn't drop the card. “I then, discard my own Despair form the Dark, to special summon Hardened Armed Dragon… And, use my first summon to call Totem Dragon- Which can be used as, two tributes for a, dragon… ”

“-no way,” Jounouchi breathed, frozen stiff as they all stared at the two monsters that  _could_  serve as three. “He isn’t-”

 _No_ , Atem thought, lips caught halfway through forming the word as he repeated it over and over within his mind.  _No, no no… No no no nono **no**_ -!

“KHAH HAH HA- Just figure it out, did you?!” The shade laughed, leering happily at them even as he was gritting his own teeth, sweat pouring down his glowing, veined brow to disappear again where his body turned to shadow. “He already had Osiris in his hand!”

“What?!” Honda cried as the pharaoh's expression darkened into a veritable storm cloud.

“That is why he is drawing extra cards,” Atem explained, even as they watched Malik play Allure of Darkness, drawing two more cards in exchange for an unknown dark monster. “He's filling his hand with cards to power up Osiris before he even summons it!”

“W-what are they supposed to do?!” 

The pharaoh shut his eyes, not answering as he himself considered. What  _could_  Jounouchi and Isis do if Malik had finally lost control to his shadow? At this rate nothing was going to stop his summoning of the god, and if he kept filling his hand with cards, Osiris would be able to wipe out either player's monster _and_ life points in one hit! 

They would  _die_!

He had to… No, he had to trust that they had some way to block it! Isis and Jounouchi had both set cards, maybe- Maybe  _something_ -

“Then I… I play Pot of Greed, drawing, two more-”

“-and that's it! That's more than enough to finish the job and kill you both!” the shade announced, eyes flashing blue fire as he looked from one player to the other. “But which one… You will  _both_  die the moment one of you loses, but oh- Which  _one_  of you should take the blow directly? …surely you, sister?” He asked, his gaze skimming back to Isis, a jarring glint in his eye. “Shall I show you how your brother cannot win against me, however he struggles? That he would cut down even  _you_  if I wish it? Make sure that you know, in that last moment before your body dies and your soul is snuffed out, how thoroughly his will is  _mine_?”

“You son of a bitch-” Jounouchi breathed, his fist shaking from how hard he clenched his hand. “You really think we're going to just stand here and-”

“Then I- play Hand Destruction. It lets me draw two more cards… If I discard two,” Malik interrupted, prompting  _all_ of them - the shade included - to turn confused eyes his way as he took two more cards from his deck. The shade… He had said Malik didn't _need_ any more cards to complete his combo and win the duel. What was he doing? His dark fingers shook as his hand hovered over his wide spread of cards, never touching any. He was hesitating- No, _fighting_ \- Though what against Atem could not see. But finally, as though some unseen chains holding him back had snapped, Malik grabbed two cards, side by side, and pushed them into his graveyard slot.  
  
“I discard Revival Jam… and The Sky Dragon of Osiris.”

“- _what_?!” the shade cried before the rest of them recovered enough to do it for him. All _any_ of them could do was stare at the man with the hunched, shaking back and the steady eyes. And when Malik let out the same, defiant, dark chuckle that had once been the bane of his existence, the pharaoh couldn’t believe- couldn’t _process_ the hope running through his veins.

“You should have, just tried to do it yourself, but you were too arrogant… Did you really think, I would be so weak… That you could kill Isis with my own hands?!”

“Malik!” The pride and relief in Isis’s voice was finally enough to let the smile loose on Atem’s face as he watched the younger Ishtar defy his shadow.

“-you can’t! That was the whole point of drawing those cards!”

“Was it?” Malik countered, staring back into those panicking icy eyes- And then blinking quickly away as if burnt. “I activate Upstart Goblin! I can draw another card- But only by healing my opponent by 1000 life points. And in this case, that’s _both_ opponents!”

“Wha-” Jounouchi started, struggling to comprehend the meaning in his own continued shock- Until he jumped back at the relighting of ten of his candles, four white, and slowly stood a little straight, flexing one of his hands in a checking manner as he looked over at Isis- and her now _excess_ candles!

“Hey-” Honda breathed, eyes wide with almost fearful delight “Doesn’t that mean-”

“They’re safe!” Atem gasped back, his face hurting from how wide his smile was. Jounouchi was now over 2000, too! As long as the duel ended _now_ , they would both make it out alright!

As, long as… It ended…

“Now no matter what, you won’t fall into a coma,” Malik said, echoing their thoughts with a steady, resigned expression that put the weight back on Atem’s chest.

“-you did that to heal me?” Jounouchi sounded beyond shocked- Taken aback, but touched. But he could say no more before he was interrupted.

“Wait wait _wait_ -” the shade hissed, demanding his sacrifice’s attention- The same desperation in his eyes that had been there in those last moments on the Alcatraz tower. “You _have_ to win, master! Take out the pharaoh yourself! If you don’t The Devourer _will_ \- And when _he_ gets what he wants from him, _everyone_ will die- Not just your sister, or your friends. _Everyone_.”

 _What_.

Atem wanted to yell out, demand that he explain what he meant, but Malik only stared back at the shade with empty eyes, letting him spiel on and on. “But if _we_ kill him ourselves, _we_ can claim The Devourer’s prize and use it to destroy him! Even _he_ couldn’t stand against us if we had _that_ \- And then we could rule the world ourselves! You could live unbound and controlled by _NOTHING_! Nothing will ever make you suffer again!!”

“You mean because I’ll have destroyed everything and everyone who matters to me already? There will be nothing left!” Malik suddenly snapped, and the shade actually _recoiled_ , awareness of his own miscalculation flashing across his eyes before they shot down to the surrender button on Malik’s duel disk, staring at it even as the Ishtar heir kept talking. “I don’t want to die… But I’ll risk it and _whatever_ you say is coming before I’ll ever give myself back to the darkness- and _you_!!”

“Brother, what are you going to do?” Isis asked, dread already collapsing her words into despair.

“Yes!” the shade cut-in before Malik could even hope to respond. “Surrendering puts your life points down to zero! You’ll die for certain!!”

“I know… That’s why I’m banking on something else,” Malik said, ignoring the confusion his words spawned to stare passed them all- To Atem? “Thank you, pharaoh. I never would have thought of this if not for our duel.”

Their duel? Which- which one did he mean? They had never fought face-to-face, save for the last moments of that final duel when Malik _had_ surrendered. The only other time that could possibly count… Was…

Atem’s eyes shot wide and focused- Not on the duel disk, but on _Malik’s hand_ , filled with near a dozen cards.

He wouldn’t-

“Malik!!” he screamed, stepping up and _into_ the shadows blocking him, a stinging numbness instantly attacking his mind even as he tried to call out. “Don’t-”

“Stop it!” Honda cried, pulling him bodily back from the shadows while Malik only stared at them, the smallest smirk on his face before he pulled one card from his hand - the only card the pharaoh knew it could be - and played it.

“I activate Card Destruction! I discard my whole hand and draw the same number of cards!”

“… _no_!” the shade breathed, watching with dawning horror as Malik discarded his whole hand of cards into the graveyard and began pulling replacements from his deck. “Exchange of the Spirit sapped our decks! There won’t be enough left-”

“Exactly…” Malik whispered, pulling one card after another.

“…Malik-” Jounouchi began, stumbling for what to say.

And then it was too late… The deck slot was empty. Malik had decked out.

“ ** _Nooooo_**!” the shade screamed, drowning out whatever Isis cried herself as he fell to his knees, clutching his head, panting for every breath. His legs began to unwind in black ribbons, going up smoke, and when he noticed it, too, he raised his head to pin the pharaoh with crazed, desperate blues. “You think you can evade me?! Get out of this unscathed?! _No_!” He turned towards Malik, who stared back with an emotionless calm- even as his life’s candles all flickered in an unfelt wind, threatening to go out. “No…”

The shade put out his hand and one- No, _two_ cards came out of Malik’s graveyard and flew across the room to him. He snatched them up before reaching to his own duel disk, pulling out a _third_ just as his abdomen collapsed in smoke. He was nothing but a head and half-there arms, but that was still enough to hold up the three divine cards - “If I cannot have you, I will at least make you _bleed_!” - and rip them apart before their eyes.

“- _the god cards_!” Jounouchi cried, but to Atem it sounded like his friend was screaming from a distance- His ears ringing with a numb nothing as he watched the three dragons, torn in two, flutter to the floor.

He had… Everything they had done, to _get those cards_ -

“Consider it my parting gift!” The shade cackled at his own words, but it was a broken, desperate sound, and the pharaoh’s rage turned to an empty, leaden feeling as he watched him finally go up in smoke, his laugh gurgling out in a wet sputter.

He was gone…

“Atem!” He couldn’t even fully turn before Anzu was suddenly there, looking him anxiously over before she turned her wide blue eyes on the rest of them. She had- How had she gotten there?

It was only after he turned and followed her gaze that Atem realized the shadowed fog had fallen away, dropping them back into the museum display room. There was Bakura, coming up beside Honda. There was the tablet, still intact and where they had left it. And there was-

“Rishid-” Malik breathed, not pausing to even fold up his duel disk before moving towards the collapsed man. The rest of them moved to close the distance, too, but it was Isis who made it there first.

“He-” Malik started, his hands at his brother’s face as he leaned close. “He’s breathing…”

“That’s, good… But what about you?” Isis asked, her relief coming and fading in the space of a breath as her concern turned from one sibling to the other. “How could you take that risk? We had no idea-”

“You changed it yourself with Exchange of the Spirit, didn’t you? –and it worked, didn’t it?” Malik interrupted, snapping without malice as he looked up to her. “We need to get him help.”

“Yes, of course- And you as well, Jounouchi-san,” Isis said, turning her gaze on the named blond as he and the rest finally reached them.

“Wha- I’m _fine_ ,” Jounouchi scoffed, earning an instant scoff from Honda.

“That’d sound more convincing if you didn’t have blood on your face,” he said, prompting Jounouchi to stop _glowering_ at him and dab uncertainly at his own nose.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Atem commented, frowning at the red that came away on Jounouchi’s hand. “They can give you that medicine they gave me- The one that makes your blood clot.”

“-yeah fine, if it doesn’t get better on its own. But the important thing right now is-” Jounouchi began, only to start with a look of horror when his eyes fell back on the Ishtars. “Malik!” Turning back about, the pharaoh could only stare as he saw the kneeling teen on the ground, bent almost fully over.

“I- I’m alright, I just- Got dizzy…” He tried to say, only for his supporting arm to give out.

“No- Malik, what’s wrong?!” Isis asked, catching him just before his face hit the tiles.

No one else said anything. No one else moved. All they could do was stare in pained denial as Isis rolled him onto his back, supporting his head as he gave a weak chuckle.

“Looks like… I couldn’t dodge, after all…”

“Malik-” Atem started, but- What was he supposed to say? He knew he should say _something_ , but staring down at the man as his consciousness crumbled to pieces, all the pharaoh could do was recall what the shade had said- That The Devourer was trying to claim _some prize_ from him. How that was why any of this had happened… Whether he wanted it or not, these events had unfolded on account of _him._ Malik was in this state because of something _he_ started.

Staring into the Ishtar’s fogged lilac eyes, he knew- Malik must be thinking the same thing… He was suffering again, because of _him_.

But when the Ishtar heir managed to move his lips, one last time, all he said was “I can’t believe, that I have to rely on _you_ … to save me…”

There was resentment in the words, but still Atem felt like a weight had been pulled from his shoulders, and his gaze was as steady as his words as he answered. “Believe it or not, you can. I _will_ bring you back.”

Malik merely chuckled, weary and amused and bleak, and shut his eyes, a smile still at his lips.

* * *

“You should have gone with them,” Atem commented some moments after the room had gone quiet.

“-as if!” Jounouchi spit, managing quite the strong glare considering he was leaning on Honda for support. “Bakura will make sure they’re all fine- You need us _here_.”

Jounouchi’s strength only seemed to dwindle by the moment, but he had been well enough when the paramedics arrived to deny their help and discourage them from forcing him to go. They had already had their hands full anyways, taking both of the Ishtar brothers on stretchers as Isis followed behind them in forlorn silence, supported by only Bakura- Who matched her heavy air to a surprising amount.

Atem had wanted to go with them, too- To be certain that Rishid would awaken, that Malik would not slip away, as Amir had. But Isis herself had been quick to deny him.

“ _We came here for a reason, pharaoh. Please… Do not make all of this in vain._ ”

“Atem?” Anzu asked, prompting him to blink passed the memory and look at the woman, noticing her uncertain stare focused on his hands. “What will you do if… If they don’t work anymore?”

The pharaoh’s hand clenched convulsively over the scraps of the god cards before he pocketed them. “It doesn’t matter. They helped me find my memories the first time around, but this time… This time is about this,” he finished, freed fingers catching on the edge of the sun pendant he still wore, his gaze sliding up to the tablet that hovered before him, not even a yard away.

“What are you going to do then?” Honda asked, and with no real answer to give him, all Atem could do was step blindly forward, hoping- _praying_ the next step would reveal itself to him.

It _had_ to- The need to seek out answers and hunt out some clue, some _sliver_ of evidence of what had happened to his partner remained as vital as ever, but the reasons to do this had only multiplied since he first walked through that door. The shade in Malik’s image- His very existence and involvement in this had proven just how thoroughly The Devourer had inserted himself into Atem’s life- How he had been twisting events long before the pharaoh ever knew of him! And he had to discover _why_!

And now, not only had the god cards become a sacrifice to this, but _Malik’s own life_ hung in the balance, right alongside Pegasus’s, and Jeu’s…

And, the fact that the shade had been looking to destroy the tablet at all- It _had_ to be the key to all of this! It _had_ to help him in some way!

But when Atem finally came within easy reach of the stone, no knowledge or insight or vision filled his mind. It was- It was only a feeling that struck him. A burn in the tips of his fingers, tingling warmly with a- a want to-

…the flame- The torch engraved between the images of Set and himself on the tablet- It was _on fire_!

“-Atem?” Jounouchi called, no wonder for the magic before him in his voice. Only confusion. Could he not see it?

-it did not matter. _Atem_ could, and he knew- Even if he did not know what or how or why, he _knew_ -

He reached out, blind to the light shining off of his pendant, deaf to the cries of his friends, hearing nothing but his own voice murmuring over the crackle of the flames.

“… _sti_ … _skhau_ …”

The flame burst.

The Eye upon the stone puzzle caught fire.

The world bled into light.

* * *

  **Ancient Egyptian Terms & Words**  
_sti_ – to light a fire, to kindle  
_skhau_ – remembrance, memory


	25. Chapter 25

Twenty-Fifth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" ** _The kingdom of heaven is already within you._**  
**_When you understand yourself, you shall find it._** "  
_~ Proverb etched on the walls of Luxor Temple_

 

"Are you happy to be home, my prince?"

"Yes, Siamun!" Atem answered in a quick rush only to fall silent without further comment. It was true, he  _was_  happy to be back, but he was just too distracted to focus on details as the royal entourage rode away from the riverport and down the path of sphinxes that marked the way home. The road had been cleared and guards stood by to secure their passage, but still the street-edge was lined with city citizens of all shapes and sizes calling out their respects and bowing their heads as they passed by. And even if he had been taught not to wave or smile - that it was not dignified or expected - Atem could not ignore them, inspecting every face curiously as they rode passed.

In some ways the boy had preferred traveling by riverboat - he could walk around and play games with the other passengers as they traveled - but he had been off and on a boat for  _days_ , traveling back down the Nile.  _Here_  the smiles of the people were heartening, and the feel of a horse beneath him was a welcome change.

Plus he got to ride with his  _father_.

"And your mother and sister will be happy to have us back," the Great King Akhenamkhanen said after a long pause, taking his own eyes off of the people just long enough to look down and grant his small son a smile- The smile that was as natural to Atem's world as the sun, its warmth just as welcome. "They will be just as proud of you as I am."

Atem beamed at the praise, swelling with delight. He had tried hard, after all, to be on his best behavior the entire time. Siamun had said he was still too _young_ when his father decided to bring the prince on his trip north to Men-Nefer, and the boy had heard others talking, too- The crew and the royal priests. No one could believe that the pharaoh would take his son away from his mother and nurses before he had even seen the end of his second harvest- Much less for a trip across the country.

Which was  _silly._  He  _did_  have a nurse with him- She was just riding behind the royal family because he was with his father. And the prince didn't  _need_  her to look after him, either. What Atem needed was to show everyone that he was no baby anymore. He needed to sit high and strong before every eye that fell on him- He needed his father to know he could trust him to know his duty, and that meant doing as he was told, presenting himself well to the people, and traveling the Nile from Swenett to the Delta without a single complaint!

A king - even a future one -  _had_  to be a good traveler.

"I can go again?" he asked his father as they passed beneath the first pylon gate of the royal complex, the crowds of townsfolk giving way to the sparse, formal lines of attendants who silently welcomed them into the first courtyard with its sacred lake and giant walls and palace proper hovering in the distance.

"-to Men-Nefer?" Akhenamkhanen looked questioningly down, the Millennium Pendant shifting and brushing the boy's hair, coming loose again when the boy shook his head.

"On the boat." Men-Nefer had been so different with its bustling markets - bigger than any in Waset - and the workshops and port and gigantic temple dedicated to Ptah were unlike anything Atem had ever seen before. They had gone to Men-Nefer so his father could check on the 'trade' there and make the people feel better after the war last year, and everyone had reacted to their presence with a cheer and reverence that went far beyond what the boy was used to. But that hadn't been the highlight of the trip for the little prince.

"-go with you?" He knew the pharaoh couldn't stay long in one place. He had to tend to the gods in the best temples across the lands, see that the people were happy, royal projects were running smoothly, and justice was being dispensed. But Atem didn't want his father to leave him behind again. He was always gone so  _long_  when he left to take care of the kingdom!

The smile he earned was not as happy as the last, but his father dashed his fears with a squeeze of his arm about his tiny waist. "I think you have earned that... Perhaps it is time you joined me on my regular progress."

"And what shall we do for the prince's education?" asked the king's most trusted priest, speaking up from where he rode just to their right. "You and I would have never finished our studies, Great Pharaoh, if Father let us travel with him before we came of age."

"Father was much younger than I when we were boys, Akhenaden," replied the king, sharing a serious glance with his priestly brother that Atem could not understand, only to crack a small smile. "And that is nothing a tutor or two cannot fix… Perhaps  _you_  could take on the task, Siamun?"

"Hardly- Unless you think my skills include minding two positions at once," quipped the veiled vizier, an obvious crinkle about his eyes as he looked Atem's way. "But I will do as you bid, my king."

"Then we shall consider the matter," Akhenamkhanen announced, but in that tone his son knew meant that the 'matter' was closed. One way or another, Atem  _was_  going to join him.

With that the boy relaxed, tuning out the adults' conversation as Siamun spoke up again - telling his father something about 'the palace' and 'expecting' - as he looked to the bowed figures they passed and beyond- to the last gate, where he could just make out a gathered crowd. It was the court, waiting to formally greet their returning king. He had been part of that welcoming committee a few times himself, first in the arms of his mother and then holding her hand, right at the front of the crowd as his father finally returned to them.

But now she - and everyone else - would be welcoming  _him_  home, too!

As they slowly cleared the distance between them and the court, though, the figure at the very center of the group came into better view, and Atem frowned in thrown, disturbed confusion. That  _wasn't_  mother! It was-

"Welcome home, Great Pharaoh," greeted the lead girl, bowing her head where everyone else went to their knees before the entourage.

"Melinia-" Akhenamkhanen named her as he handed Atem into the waiting arms of his nurse. The prince quickly wriggled himself free to his own feet, touching the ground in time with his father as he and his vizier and priests descended from their horses. The king moved forward without even properly handing over the reins, his words holding a barely contained excitement and dread and hope as he faced the girl. "Does your presence here mean that your mother is delivering?"

"Delivered, pharaoh, just passed dawn," Melinia answered, a broad, proud smile on her lips as she raised her voice for all to hear. "The Great Royal Wife Ast has borne a son!"

 _A son?_  thought Atem, frowning at no one, for no one was looking. Of course the Great Royal Wife had a son- That was  _him_!

"Praise to the gods!" cried Siamun, making the prince jolt and look incredulously at the old man who was surely beaming behind his face veil.

"Yes…" the king himself breathed, his own voice and smile baffling the young boy only further. How could anybody look so happy, and so sad all at once?

"Fath-" It was too late. Akhenamkhanen was walking away, Siamun and his priests right at his heels. The crowd parted for him like wind only to close again with a burst of excited chatter before Atem could get away from his nurse and follow.

What was going  _on_?!

"Look at you," cut a voice through his confusion, and Atem frowned up into smiling, narrow violet eyes as Melinia knelt down to meet his gaze. "You have grown, my prince."

"Where is mother, sister? I want to see her," he said, using the familiar term  _he_  could apply, but she couldn't. Melinia was required to show deference to him at all times, after all, because he was a prince, and she was a mere honorary lady.

He never understood that- Melinia said it was because she was not the king's child, only their mother's, brought with Ast from across the sea before her marriage to Atem's father. But the prince didn't see why that should matter- The king  _liked_  his sole wife's daughter, embraced her as family and granted her every honor. And even if their mother and Melinia came from the land of 'Crete' they were of royal blood, descended from the kings of Kemet through Pharaoh Amunemhet, the same as Atem and his father. Didn't that make Melinia divine, too?

"Not yet- We should give your father some time with her first. They will introduce you soon enough- But trust me, you're in for  _quite_  a treat when they call you," his sister answered, giving him a wink and that smile that always meant she was teasing him somehow. He glowered at her, but she simply ignored him, standing up and taking his hand to lead him and his own nurse and guards into the palace. "Now tell me, did you see the pyramids?"

* * *

"Atem-"

His mother's voice was a balm on the troubled boy's mind, the sight of her easy smile even more so. The prince took two steps into his mother's private audience chamber and bolted into a run the moment he caught sight of her, dodging Melinia's catching arms to fling himself at her legs. "Mother! Where were you?!"

"I am sorry," Ast said as she reached down, brushing his hair from his face but  _not_  lifting him onto his lap as he expected. Usually when he came to see her she would be picking him up before he could even reach her, and when she  _ever_  remained seated in her informal, wooden throne, she would lift him onto her lap. And whatever Melinia's assurances, Atem could tell something was wrong just by  _looking_. The prince loved his mother's true, golden hair, but unlike his sister she  _never_  left it uncovered. Like many at court she always wore a thick, dark-haired wig, hiding her natural locks so that she didn't stand out among the other women of the palace. But now that golden hair was uncovered and loose, no kohl or make-up marked her face, and the circles uncovered beneath her violet eyes made her look worn and tired… But still she looked happy, offering a fond smile as she spoke to her son. "I would have come to greet you if I could, but the king has already told me of your trip- How you impressed every dignitary and priest you met with your manner and good grace."

The compliments were warm, but of little use to Atem's confusion.  _Something_  was going on, he knew it- He had heard what was said in the courtyard, after all. His mother was also much thinner than she was when he had left last season- Was she sick?

"I have missed you, my boy. I am so-" His mother cut herself off as she looked up, the voices that had been constantly wafting out from a back room growing louder as Atem's father came through the door with one of his priests - the sole priestess among the royal six.

"-but it must be both? One alone-"

"Is strong, Great Pharaoh, but it is only together that-" the priestess fell silent as her king raised his hand upon spotting his son at his mother's feet. He met the prince's confused gaze with a smile as his hand dropped back to help support the bundle in his arms, shifting his grip to hand the rolled blankets he carried to his wife when he reached her.

"Atem, there is someone here you need to meet," the king said gently, in the tone the prince usually heard when his father wanted to explain something important, but hard to understand. Stepping behind Ast's chair, the king hovered over them all with a bejeweled dark hand resting on the back of her chair, waiting for her to tilt the bundle towards the boy before speaking further. "This is the new prince your mother bore- Your new brother, Sawheru."

Atem turned his gaze uncertainly down to the white linens, and found that indeed- There was a small baby within. He wasn't startling to look at - the toddler had seen other babies before, though none so fresh and scrunched as this one - but the idea that  _this_  one was a prince, like him?  _This_  was what all the strangeness going on was about? The toddler wasn't sure what to think of that… What was one supposed to  _do_  when presented with a brother?

"Look at that," Melinia said, suddenly there, kneeling behind her first brother to grin over his shoulder at her new second. "He looks just like you did when you were born, Atem. See? He has the same nose- Even the same little tufts of hair, with the gold there?"

"It seems the gods are determined to mark my boys for all to see," said his mother, a small smile at her lips marking her teasing words with a sincere fondness- And a weight the boy did not understand and had no time to consider.

For before he could decide what he really  _thought_ about all of this, the baby opened its eyes.

There was nothing  _bad_  about them- They were really, really big, but colored the same vibrant purple the prince associated with his mother and sister and even Siamun- Though Atem thought of him more as his father's vizier than the king's uncle. But the moment he locked eyes with the baby all of that surreal familiarity crumbled before a strange sensation. It struck Atem in the chest and spread throughout him like water, warm and buzzing, until he was filled up and set to bursting. It was strange and foreign and alarming and apparently not felt by him alone, for he could see the same confused distress shoot through the babe's eyes before he squeezed them shut and  _bawled_.

"-what's wrong with him?" Melinia asked, but the adults had no answer to give her. They stared at Sawheru with the same baffled concern as the young lady as Ast gathered the baby close, trying in vain to soothe him. The older prince made no such cry of distress, but his sister quickly turned her alarm on him when she looked down and saw tears in his eyes.

"...he's  _weird_ ," Atem proclaimed, voice wavering and confused and accusing as his sister pulled him back.

"That's  _not nice_ , he's just a-"

"It's alright," his father interrupted, but even though he cut off Melinia's scolding there was a look in his eyes that the prince feared as disappointment- But he could not be sure as Akhenamkhanen covered his thoughts with a smile and reached down to pat him on the head. "Take him back to his room, Melinia. He is likely tired from our travels."

"-of course, pharaoh," she answered, if with a frown, taking Atem's hand and leading him out of the room. He dragged his feet as much as he could but that earned him no more than a brief last look at his parents, still frowning over the screaming bundle. Then there was nothing ahead but halls and guards and Melinia's questions.

"What  _happened_  back there?"

He frowned tearfully at the painted floor, watching his bare feet as he tried to find the words- A way to explain to Melinia what he had felt. How it had not hurt, but  _scared_  him the way this- this  _thing_  so much bigger than him had suddenly been there, inside him, overwhelming his heart with feelings he did not understand.

And all because he looked at that baby.

The small boy of not even two tried for some seconds to word it, but eventually had to settle on a short, insistent "He's  _weird_!"

 

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Glossary**  
_Kemet_  – Name for Egypt, meaning 'the black land' referencing its black soil  
_Waset_  – New Kingdom name of Thebes/Luxor, the religious capital  
_Men_ - _Nefer_  – New Kingdom name of Memphis, the economic capital  
_Swenett_  – Southernmost city of Upper (Southern) Egypt, known now as Aswan  
_Ptah_  – Patron god of craftsman

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_  – Mai


	26. Chapter 26

Thirtieth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" _ **Grain must return to the earth, die,**_  
_**and decompose for new growth to begin.**_ "  
_~ Proverb etched on the walls of Luxor Temple_

 

Warm, fogged maroon eyes slit open to stare at nothing. Blind. Confused.

Atem was not certain what pulled him from sleep. He wasn't too warm, or chilly. The sky outside his window stretched towards a shy pink, but the sun had yet to breach the horizon and warm the sands. The living noise of the palace should still be stagnant, and certainly not capable of reaching the prince within his royal chambers.

And yet, as he lay there in the pre-dawn light, he slowly registered distant, distinct sounds.

It wouldn't have been so peculiar if the prince were sharing chambers with his father. They often did when they were out on the Nile, staying in smaller cities or temples, and the king had to be up well before the sun to make offerings to the gods. For all Atem knew, his father _was_ already up, performing the morning rituals to Amun in the royal family's private temple, or perhaps in the neighboring Temple of Karnak if the priests had requested his presence there for a private ceremony. But the young royal had no part to play in those rituals - not yet - and when they were visiting Waset nothing and no one should be disturbing the boy's rest. Not _that_ early.

Unless something was wrong.

Atem rolled onto a shoulder, pushed his headrest away, and rose, reaching thoughtlessly for the kilt and tunic laid out for him for the morning. Before he had even secured them with a golden belt a sentry was there, kneeling in the doorway with his head bowed. "Did something disturb you, my prince?"

"Yes, Bek," Atem answered the guard- One of many who hovered constantly at the outskirts of his life, rarely addressed but trusted with guarding him in his most vulnerable hours. "Those noises- What is going on?"

"I do not know, my prince- But the maid Nebt ran passed a moment ago."

Nebt… She was one of his mother Ast's favorite maids.

"I could not catch her to ask what was wrong," Bek went on as Atem looked beyond him, staring down the dark halls with a growing, troubled understanding. "-but I could go investigate further if you wished."

"No…" Atem answered, barely moving his lips around the refusal, his mind already far beyond the room in another corner of the palace. He did not need Bek to investigate to know what was likely happening.

His mother was heavy with child again. She was barely able to bow properly when the prince and his father rode into the palace yesterday morning, fresh from a visit to Abdju. The pharaoh had quickly jumped from his horse and discouraged her from bending over, guiding her into the palace with a protective arm at her back and a worried frown at his lips- And Atem knew only all too well what troubled him.

His mother's efforts to produce further heirs had long taught the prince the basics of childbirth, and the reality of its often tragic results. The Great Royal Wife Ast had been with child at least _twice_ since Sawheru's birth five years ago, but the only fruits she had borne since were blood and tears and long days of listless mourning. The prince did not know what had happened to the first of the two lost babes - perhaps it had been too premature even for a burial - but the younger of the two - a sister never named - had been placed into a little sarcophagus and shuffled off into the night after a series of rituals. Atem assumed she was placed in his father's future tomb so that she might share his afterlife when he passed into the West.

Would this new sibling be joining her so soon?

"I will see for myself," he decided. He could sense the guard's wish to argue, but Bek was too experienced with his charge's persistence to bother protesting. He simply watched, still kneeling, as the prince passed into the hall without so much as his golden collar on. The young boy could not entrust any servant with this task, or delay it by a moment- If his mother was open to a visit and in need of comfort, _he_ was the one who needed to be there.

Atem steeled himself for whatever he might see when he finally turned down a familiar hall and approached his mother's chambers, but before the entrance even came into sight the roof of his stomach was fluttering restlessly. Someone- No, multiple people were crying. _Sobbing_. He could hear them choking on their cries. The prince's grim determination quivered at the sound, uncertainty tainting his step as he rounded the last corner. And when he spotted the women huddled around his mother's doorway- The youngest smothering her sobs into her hand where the rest openly wailed-

It was Melinia.

His sister never- _Never_ let herself be seen as vulnerable. Even when she wept for their dead siblings she had always held to her strength, stood like a rock for the rest of them while denying her own pain. 'Proper Egyptians' wore their grief like a badge, but she just wouldn't let herself be seen that way.

And now? This wasn't a change of heart- It was a cup overflowing. Her agony was drowning her.

"…sister-" he finally managed to say, the word withering on his tongue.

Melinia lifted her face from her palm - how had she even heard him? - and froze when their eyes met, hers red-rim and struck, his terrified. "Atem…" she breathed, and the layers of grief and pity in her voiced turned the boy's bones to glass. He wanted to turn away, to run from her approach and what he knew she would say, but he was certain he would shatter if he so much as breathed. And he did, without a single twitch of movement, when his sister knelt and wrapped her arms around him and poured her tears and truths into his hair. "I am so… The baby, she- She just- She took too long coming, and she died… And she took Mother with her…"

He knew. It was what Atem knew she would say, and still it left him quaking in her arms. His mind hummed hot and heat gathered behind his eyes as he blinked over and over and over and struggled to take in air. Melinia squeezed him, the siblings a silent, quivering center among a circle of wailing grief. Their mother's ladies carried on, but the children would not scream. They leaned on one another, seeking the strength to swallow their pain.

He- He had been prepared for another dead sister, but- Mother? _How_ … How could she be gone?

Long before his escaped tears had dried his sister released him, took his hand, and without a word - without asking - led him into the room. He could not dredge up the will to fight, even as dread spiked his veins for what he would surely see- And then it was too late.

The only true mercy for the boy was the bed was obscured from view, the covered figure upon it blocked by two men, one hunched over, the other standing with a hand upon the first's shoulder.

"I know it never gets any easier…"

"No," the other whispered. "…but I never thought… When the black disease struck and I lost everything, I truly thought the gods had abandoned me. Then they brought Ast to me, and she guided me out of the darkness like a star… I never thought I could lose so much again."

Atem's heart shriveled to hear such weight in his father's voice, but where the sound stole his tongue it only spurred his uncle on.

"This is not like then, brother. You have not lost all. She is gone, but you still have your sons." Just then, as though by magic – and perhaps exactly by that – Akhenaden noticed the prince standing in the doorway with his sister. Rather than wave them away from the private exchange or coax them closer, he turned his brother firmly around by the hand on his shoulder, alerting the king by sight of his child's presence.

They stared at one another, father and son, constant companions of the last five years- Both stricken, both holding mute sorrow in their eyes.

It was Akhenamkhanen who moved first, weakly offering out a broad, large hand, and Atem met the call without a word.

But even brought together there was nothing to be done. Nothing to say.

The prince wasn't sure how long they stood there, silent in their grief, eyes downcast with the covered figure of his mother just there in their periphery. But in time his father drew closer, not so much embracing his small son as covering him with his arms as he whispered. "We will mourn her… And grant her an afterlife worthy of a lady of the heavens. But-" The pharaoh knelt, meeting his eye at his own level, and all the boy could do was numbly wonder at how his father's gaze could be so steady when such misery hung in its center. "The people have heard of our loss- They are already gathering in the first courtyard. They want to see us, to know we are well. Many of them know- _saw_ us lose family before. They will still have that fear in their hearts- Of the days when we had no heir. No future."

Atem could do nothing but blink, only the faintest of understanding in his mind. He knew, after all, that his father had ruled as king for many, many years- And a king always needed an heir. There had been other wives, other _children_ \- But the boy had never been told what happened to them.

All he knew was he, and Sawheru, were the only ones left. The rest were dead.

"I must see them- Reassure the people that we still stand strong. That our future remains intact… Because mo matter what we feel in our own hearts, we must do our duty- And the greatest, most important duty of a king is to safeguard his people's peace of mind," Akhenamkhanen explained, his dulled eyes focusing with sudden clarity as he searched the prince's own. "So I will speak to them… Will you stand with me, Atem?"

-stand before the people? Look down into their faces, knowing that they knew of their loss? They would know- Even if Atem somehow managed to keep the pain from his face, they would _know_ it was there.

But… How could he say no? How could he shun what his father clearly thought he needed to do? Leave him to stand out there, in front of everyone, alone…

The prince swallowed his tears, and nodded.

* * *

"Citizens of Waset! People of Kemet! Your devotion and fealty gladden our hearts!" cried the king, his voice roaring over the sea of faces that overflowed the royal courtyard, every single one turned up to catch his words and answer with clamors of consolation and good wishes.

_**Safe passage to the heavens for the great royal wife!** _

_**Good health to the little crown prince!** _

_**Long life to the pharaoh!** _

And through it all Atem need do nothing but stand. Watch. Smile when he was addressed, and not react when they mentioned his mother.

And he would have cracked within moments, had it not been for his father.

The prince caught little of what the king actually said to the people, but the substance and very sound of his words grabbed his son's focus. He just couldn't help but marvel at his father- He _shone_ over his people, warm and grand and steady. Atem didn't know how he did it, how he managed to make it clear, in every syllable and gesture, that he was truly grieving, sincerely touched by the people's concern, honestly confident in their future… But in the same breathe showed no weakness. No sorrow,

Could he ever truly emulate such a man?

He didn't know, but he tried- Right then and there, schooling his features into stone as Akhenamkhanen reached back to grasp his shoulder, waving an arm out towards the crowd as though to present them there- Father and son, dripping in gold, each in their own crown, standing as one.

"Her greatest gifts to us are our princes! As it was the will of Amun for her to pass, it is his will that Atem remains to follow in my steps- And his son will surely come to follow him, and his- And every corner of the kingdom shall bask in the light of _Ma'at_ so long as I and my children stand between you and the darkness of chaos! May Kemet know only victory and prosperity!"

_**Victory!** _

_**Prosperity!** _

_**Akhenamkhanen!** _

The people cried out and the pharaoh raised his hand high for them- His son the only one close enough to see the pain behind his smile.

* * *

"Father?" Atem called they stepped back out of sight, catching Akhenamkhanen just as he was about to walk on and leave the prince in Siamun's care. "You said princes- You wanted us both here, didn't you?" The curiosity in the king's eyes ebbed into grim, resistant understanding, and the old vizier was there, tugging on the prince's shoulder as if to dissuade him from asking. But he had to know. "Where is Sawheru? Why isn't he here?"

The king hesitated for a long moment before finally answering, the reluctant words heavy and listless. "…he saw your mother before you did, Atem."

The prince's breath caught in his throat.

 _Had Sawheru_ _**watched** _ _Mother die?!_

"The boy was so distraught," Siamun explained for the silent king, his lined hand squeezing Atem's arm in a show of comfort where it had just tried to stay him. "We had his guard take him back to his own chamber, rather than keep him with us."

Keep him in there with Mother, he meant, when she was _dead_ … And there was little chance the boy could have stood before the people after that. He was only five, after all, and if- If he had _seen_ -

"If you wish to go to him-" Akhenamkhanen suggested, drawing the prince out of his own mind and wonderings. "You can. Melinia is occupied with your mother's ladies and the, preparations. She likely cannot see to him herself."

Atem hesitated. He knew he shouldn't, but he did. There was no time for such old, instinctual wariness, but it was there whether he wished it or not, layered beneath the practical certainty that he didn't know _how_ to approach or help his brother.

Sawheru… He was as much a stranger to Atem as kin. The second prince remained in Waset, in the palace under the ever watchful eye of mother and sister and court while the first followed the wandering light of their father to every corner of Kemet. And when the king and his heir were actually there, in the city they deemed 'home'… Well. The palace of Waset was a large, independent world unto itself. The princes need not cross paths if they did not wish it- And they rarely did.

Atem couldn't explain the mutual avoidance, stubborn even in the face of sincere effort on their parents' parts to bring them together. They had shared a nursery briefly until Atem's restlessness and the baby's wails convinced everyone that other arrangements were needed. They lived completely segregated lives, and when the two _did_ come face to face and stand together for any length of time – at formal events, with their parents, or for a full court dinner – silence reigned supreme, though everyone who would know assured Atem that his brother was actually quite open and friendly, once you got to know him.

He never had.

And somehow, it was only worse that Atem could not say _why_ it was so. He did not hate his brother. He did not bear Sawheru any ill will, or fear the strange, surreal hum of his presence anymore- If anything that 'weirdness' about Sawheru had faded over the years. The instinct to shy away from the younger boy was just so natural now, so ingrained into the prince's psyche, that it was a given. A hurdle he didn't know how to jump when he even noticed it.

If ever there was a time to break that habit, though, it was now.

But the struggle to actually try must have shown on the boy's features, for the timid hope in his father's eye went out even before Siamun spoke up. "Do not worry, my pharaoh. I will see to young Sawheru myself… Perhaps the prince should rest?"

"-yes," Akhenamkhanen agreed, though with a reluctance even his son could read. "Go, Atem- Put your mind at ease. I will call for you later."

Atem gave a wordless nod, silently wondering how he could ever possibly rest.

* * *

He couldn't.

Not an hour later the prince wandered the palace halls, his feet taking him far beyond the royal chambers through back passages, storerooms and kitchens and finally an outer, pillared hall that connected the still distant throne room to a palace exit that came out near the Shrine of Wedju. He did not intend to actually leave the palace, though. He simply wished to walk, to find somewhere he could be alone in a way he never could be in his own chambers, with his servants and guards ever in hearing. He just… He wanted a truly private corner to sit in and sort out his heart, without a single chance of interruption.

But as he stood at a cross-hall, trying to decide which way to go, he heard voices approaching from his left. He didn't want to be seen- Whoever they were, they would likely stop to speak to him. And he didn't feel like talking. Not stopping to think about it, Atem ducked quickly behind a pillar, leaning his head back against the hard stone and painted reliefs of papyrus plants as he listened to the footsteps… And then the voices.

"-heard it was a girl. Not that they would announce it, but I had an informant among her maids. Not sure what I'll do with her now…"

"Such a shame," a second person commented with a regretful, yet untroubled sigh. "If the baby had lived we would have a future lady to marry the crown prince and help secure the bloodline. Now, unless the pharaoh sires a princess some other way-"

"It is _not_ a shame," cut in a third voice, harsh and deep, and Atem's already tense muscles seized completely as he heard them stall far, far too close to his pillar. "Better there are no other children from that woman- It's bad enough we have her sons first in line for the throne, and that daughter of hers here at court. If she had left that baby, and it had married its brother, we would only have _more_ of that foreign blood flowing through the royal line- Or does that not trouble you? Should we go to the pharaoh and suggest his son marry that Athenian sister of his?"

"Silence, my lord!" hissed the first voice, though the order sounded like a distant whisper to Atem over the roar of blood in his ears. "Do you want someone to hear you?"

"Who would care what I say? You know as well as I do that half of the court would applaud me, not report me."

"True enough," said the middle voice, offering calm but none of the outrage or dismay that beat in the prince's own heart. "But the rest would take it straight to Akhenamkhanen, and soft-hearted as he is, you know he will not accept any word against his wife or sons. Especially not now."

"No…" the cruel third actually agreed, and for one blissful second Atem thought they would leave… Only for the unknown speaker to go on, a strange nostalgia in his voice. "If only the other princes had not died- Khamet had the makings of a true pharaoh- His mother was a princess herself, and his little own sons had seemed so promising- Even if one of them had that Syrian woman for a mother."

"The Syrian link at least offered the chance to finally claim the land for good. If Akhenamkhanen had had the gall to attack the country when we had the chance, we might have wiped out the royal line and put the little prince Maherpa on the Syrian throne as the only legitimate heir- Then even if Ramose had followed Khamet as heir, the future king would have a brother on the Syrian throne."

"Like any proper Egyptian would agree to live in Syria permanently, and risk dying abroad," scoffed the second speaker to the first. "Even a half-Syrian like Maherpa would know better than to risk that- He would be raised _here_ , after all."

" _Would_ have been, you mean. None of this matters- They're dead," replied the first, giving a sigh of his own before his tones suddenly lightened. "But as to the now- There _is_ opportunity in this death-" The voice cut off suddenly, and Atem knew with a grim-sodden alarm that it was because he had just slammed his own head back against the pillar- A gesture meant to stifle his want to cry out.

Would his painful efforts draw the very attention he sought to dodge?

He bit his lip and clenched his eyes shut against the hot, angry tears that filled his eyes, squeezing his fists against the urge to scream and the dark hope that they _would_ find him.

 _Yes, find me- And then I will show you firsthand what I have been taught by my family! Show you that I am my father's son and there is_ _**nothing** _ _I regret about my mother- But you will regret every word you have uttered about her!_

But that was nothing but a foolhardy desire the prince knew he could not indulge- He could not show himself now. His rage settled down to a soft simmer, and as his vision cleared he accepted the reality that his father would have never condoned what Atem wished to do- He knew, that was _not_ what he was being trained for!

"-what were you saying just now?"

"I am not certain I should- What if someone is listening-"

"There is no one. Do you think we would still be standing here undisturbed if there were?"

"…well, I just meant that, we have an opening now for a proper native lady of good standing to join the royal family" came the reply, the speaker dropping his voice down to a mere whisper that the prince strained to make out. "A relation to one of the high priests, perhaps. Or the daughter of a noble here in court- Someone Akhenamkhanen needs the support of, and who will help keep his little son on his rickety throne, when he finally sits upon it… Someone like you, my friend?"

A quiet laugh burst up, and Atem's stomach threatened to overturn as he recognized the third voice. The cruelest one. "As though I would offer any of my sweet girls to that boy- They are not only too good for him, he is _too young_." The prince clinched his teeth, stuck between relief and insult, until the same man slowly spoke up again, replacing both the boy's emotions with horror. "But, my daughters might be suitable for the _king_ \- Akhenamkhanen may be old, but he's young enough yet to sire more sons."

"-that is true!" someone said, wonder turning to consideration in a heartbeat. "And with Ast dead, Akhenamkhanen will need a bride. It is odd enough that he had only the one for so long, but the _Lord of the Two Lands_ cannot remain _unwed_ \- Why not chose a wife closer to home this time?"

"Yes…" the unnamed third mused, only to give another laugh that moved with his apparent steps away. "And perhaps, in time, we will have new princes for the king- And we need not worry about Athenian blood at all!"

"Not so far, my lord," cautioned one speaker, not a single drop of disapproval in his smiling voice.

Atem listened to the footsteps fade away, so afraid that his pulse was merely drowning them out. When he thought it safe he burst out from behind the pillar, ready to catch a glimpse of whoever he had heard before they turned a corner- But it was too late. There was no one there anymore. The hall was empty.

The prince could not stand it. He had to look. He _had to know who_ -

He rushed forward, running in the direction he had heard them go, realizing quickly that they must have been heading for the throne room.

Maybe- Maybe if he hurried-

"-my prince?" someone - a courtier Atem did not recognize, even by voice - asked as the boy dove through the side entrance of the throne room only to find a crowd looking at him. Dozens of faces turned his way, and the prince froze stiff as he stared back, suddenly painfully aware of his flushed face and wet cheeks.

"Is there anything we can help you-"

He turned and ran, face burning with humiliation, desperation coursing through his veins to get as much distance between him and the throne room as _possible_ before someone thought to follow. They would be looking for him for certain now, and he did _not_ want to be found.

How? How could those people say those things?! Did- Did everyone in Waset think that way? Could the court truly be so horrid?! He was… He was so rarely there, he would not know, but- How could they say those things about him and his family?! _How could they say that about his mother_?!

He ran until his legs screamed. When he couldn't stand it anymore he all but slammed into the first wall he came to, panting and sobbing at once, rubbing tears and snot from his face as he collapsed to the ground. He couldn't even think anymore - he had run even his _mind_ down to an aching burn - and when he calmed it was all he could do to look around and see where he was.

It- He was towards the back of the palace, near his mother's chambers again. He recognized the flock of ibis painted on the wall he leaned on- He sometimes passed it when he went to see her. But, he couldn't hear anyone nearby- He was either not close enough, or there was no one there anymore.

He didn't want to think about it. Didn't want to go there again. So when he found his feed again came to the first break in the hall, he took a different path, away from her bedchamber, to-

Where did it-

It was only when he walked out into unexpected daylight that Atem remembered the garden. The sun glared down on the small, open enclosure, smaller than the pleasure garden linked to his father's own chambers. The lake at its center was nothing next to the sacred waters that bordered the palace, but colored tiles and shade trees surrounding it were so familiar. This was his mother's garden.

Before Atem could decide whether to stay or turn around, he heard something - the scrape of cloth on tile. He tensed, turned, searched for the source-

"Brother?"

The prince froze as he found the little figure beneath an _ished_ tree, not ten paces away from him.

Atem's reds met Sawheru's purples, tears and shock shining in their eyes.

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Glossary**  
_Karnak Temple_ \- Temple complex dedicated to the 'Theban Triad' gods Amun, Mut,  & Khonsu  
_Amun_ \- Linked to the sun god Ra, called 'the hidden one' and often considered the primary god  
_Mut_ \- Consort of Amun and 'Mother of Gods', associated with the primordial waters of the world  
_Khonsu_ \- God of the moon, son of Amun  & Mut, linked to travelers, healing, and protection  
_Abdju_ \- Capital of Upper Egypt, dedicated to the worship of Osiris. Known now as Abydos.  
_Osiris_ \- God of the underworld and resurrection, associated with dead pharaohs  
' _Passed into the West'_ \- Egyptians associated the west/left bank of the Nile with the dead  
_Ma'at_ \- A goddess and concept, it meant order and justice, which the pharaoh must preserve  
' _Dying abroad_ ' - Egyptians believed being buried on native soil was crucial to have an afterlife  
_Lord of the Two Lands_ \- A title for the pharaoh, referencing Upper and Lower Egypt were once two kingdoms  
_Ibis_ \- Birds sacred to Egypt, associated with Thoth, the god of knowledge and balance and the moon  
_Ished tree_ \- Likely a persea, a sacred tree linked to the sun, defended by Ra against the serpent demon Apep  


**Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ \- Yuugi  
_Melinia_ \- Mai


	27. Chapter 27

Thirtieth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" ** _Pass on the teachings that they may work well._** "  
_~ Teaching from Ptahhotep, Vizier of the Fifth Dynasty_

  
"Brother-" Sawheru breathed, voice catching with choked emotion. His hesitant, sniffling call went through Atem like thunder. "-what happened? Why are you crying?"

The older prince blinked rapidly, belatedly brushing his tears away with a gold-clad wrist, but no- Even when he cleared his eyes and his head he couldn't fully comprehend what he just heard the boy say.

Had Sawheru- Did the boy weeping beneath the tree just ask _him_ why he was crying?!

The obvious, easy answer was there on his tongue, but when he reached for it, mumbling "It's- Just, Mother-" it didn't come out right. The younger boy's face wilted, but those watery violet eyes shone with suspicion. That feeling that always struck Atem around his brother was there again - a warm emptying and swelling sensation in his chest - and it made him want to look away. _Walk away_.

He fought the impulse back, clenching his hands as he mumbled a distracted "I heard some men talking in the hall-"

He managed no more than that, yet the intensity in the Sawheru's face softened- _Darkened_ with an awareness that made no sense. "They talked about us? And mother?"

Atem stared, dumbfounded, until he found his voice again, the words tasting like gravel on his tongue. "How could you know that?"

And those wide purples finally slid off of him, focusing listlessly on the stagnant waters of the pool instead. "They say that a lot."

"What?" Atem answered eloquently, but Sawheru nodded without comment. Without looking up.

"That Mother is a bad royal wife- That we are _hesy_."

_Hesy_ … Outsiders. Not simply foreign, but vile. _Wretched_. Atem knew the word well enough- It was usually reserved solely for the enemies of Kemet.

And their own court had applied it to _them_!

"How can they get away with that?" Atem asked, voice low and quiet and scraping roughly out of his throat. The sound made Sawheru visibly flinch, but he couldn't let the rage go. It felt too good, burnt his grief in its fire. "Have you told anyone?" Did those same three men say those thing?! "If Father knew-"

"I used to tell Mother," Sawheru interrupted, soft as a whisper. But that was all it took to silence the older boy, his vision unclouding and focusing reluctantly on the younger as Sawheru returned his own gaze to the pool, evasive in his sadness. "But... She said, people say bad things when they don't like you. That they re-" boy stalled, frowning over a word that was hard to pronounce. Or perhaps he had never fully understood it. "- _resent_ you... If we are _good_ , they will stop."

Atem, he… He couldn't think of anything to say to that. It was just so- How could it ever be that simple? Those men- Maybe not all three of them, but at least two had been speaking as much out of _greed_ as hate. What could the royals ever do to earn _their_ fealty? And- How had they _not_ been good?!

But… How could Atem ever dismiss his mother's own words, especially now?

And strange as the advice may be, there was something about little Sawheru's quiet, calm air - accepting, but utterly unbent - that left the crown prince strangely ashamed for his inept rage. All he could do was _stare_ as the younger prince broached the thick silence. "And I stopped telling on them…" A thin, weak shrug, and he dropped his chin down into the fold of his arms, looking ever smaller, tensed up in his tight little ball. "There are too many of them."

Too many… Too many worth revealing. What was the point of pointing out a dirty person in a room overflowing with filth?

Atem felt sick even considering it, and he turned away to stare hotly at the surrounding walls, painted bright with figures of gods and animals. The art was a staple of this, their home… Their _home_ … How could _he_ be so blind to what it was like there, and Sawheru - the little brother ever clinging to their mother's skirts, completely ignorant of anything beyond the palace walls - see it for what it really was?

But... That was just it, wasn't it? While Atem traveled the land with their father and heard nothing but vows of fealty and prayers of thanksgiving, Sawheru had been _there_ , among the nobles and remaining court, day after day, watching their backstabbing ways even as he learned to walk. Talk. Read.

_Listen_.

"Will they hurt us?"

"What?" he answered thoughtlessly, meeting the younger prince's confused glance look for look until the conversation played through his mind again and- Oh... He meant the men in the hall.

... _would_ they? When Atem had stumbled into that garden, those three had seemed like the worst traitors in existence, perfectly happy to tear the prince's world down about his ears. But, now... "No," he mumbled, frowning uncertainly up at the branches of the persea. For all of their horrible words, insults and even voiced cheer at the death of royals, they had not made any actual _threats_.

Save- "They want Father to marry again." And, only then perhaps, when there were _new_ princes to replace them-

"...he- He can't!" cried Sawheru, making Atem jump and blink astonished at the boy. He had been half-convinced his brother was _incapable_ of such noise!

Indeed, the little prince didn't seem comfortable with his own volume, his cheeks and nose turning a ruddy red as he plastered himself back against the tree trunk and his voice returned to its usual hesitant airiness. "I mean... He wouldn't, would he? Even if he can?"

"I doubt it." Oh, he _could_. But then, Father could have all along- In fact, even _Atem_ had heard a spare whisper or two about how odd it was the king kept only one wife, especially given his shortage of heirs. "Siamun told me he had many wives before we were born- Many at once. But he only had Mother now." There had never been any other lady at the pharaoh's side in the princes' lifetime. _Maybe_ it would be different, now that Mother was gone... But Atem didn't want to think about it.

The father he saw in his mother's room, brought so low- _He_ wouldn't want to just replace her, would he?

"That's true..." Sawheru mumbled, voice falling into nothing and refusing to rise again as silence reigned between them, Atem expecting some further word and left with nothing. For some time the younger boy kept staring at the waters, and the elder felt somehow like he shouldn't interrupt- That he _had_ to wait until Sawheru inevitably voiced whatever was on his mind.

" ...can we give her lotus?"

Atem didn't actually _say_ 'What?' that time, but his blink spoke clearly enough as he followed Sawheru's gaze to the water, looking not so much for the named, floating blue flowers as the meaning of the question.

"Put them with her, when we..." Sawheru choked soundlessly, swallowing the rest down. He ignored Atem's considering gaze and stared stubbornly at the pool, eyes tense and glossy as he blinked them again and again and _again_ until the moisture shining in them died away.

It was his reaction that spoke to Atem more than anything.

He meant, when they _buried_ her.

"-because they were her favorite?" Atem tested on a weak breath, confident in the guess even before Sawheru nodded stiffly.

"I bet she would want them, in... She loves lotus." The stillness over the boy cracked as he jerked his head up, pinning the other prince with his wide, searching gaze. "You know why?"

"-because they are sacred, and tied to the sun?" Atem guessed. He knew their mother loved the sun, after all, and for much more than its divine power. He still had vague, vague memories of when he passed his own days with her, before his travels with Father took him away- Before Sawheru was born. She had always loved the sun and her gardens, always played with him out in the open air when it wasn't too hot- When the morning was still cool or the evening nigh.

Any flower she would associate with that would be precious to her, wouldn't it be?

But Sawheru shook his head, offering his own explanation. "The lotus is Isis's flower."

Isis... He had to mean the sacred goddess of magic- The benevolent wife of Osiris and mother of Horus.

Atem knew of her, as _anyone_ would, but thanks to lessons with Siamun he also knew what Sawheru referred to. The blue lotus was used in many medicines and spells - healing practices the prince himself received aid from when a cough or ache ailed him - specifically because of its powerful ties to Isis. For it was said that the goddess smelled so much of the flower that all thought her blood must be the bloom's oil.

"I think Mother was like her-" Sawheru mused, lips ticking up towards a grin. Somehow it made him look so much closer to crying. "Good, and strong, and kind... And Isis is the mother of Horus- And the pharaoh is Horus walking the earth- So you will be him one day, right?"

The older prince gave nothing but a nod, too caught up in his thoughts to explain that he would be _as_ Horus- Protected by him when he took the throne, as Father was now.

Sawheru- He was linked to the god as well. His very name called on the falcon- 'the Shield of Horus'. Atem had only understood the meaning of his brother's name years after his birth, and ever since he had wondered just what their father had intended, naming the younger, secondary prince for the pharaonic god.

"I liked Mother's stories about her-" Sawheru went on, and something about the boy's voice made Atem blink beyond his own thoughts and look quizzically down at his brother. He could see nothing _wrong_ in Sawheru's down-turned face, but still Atem's nerves sharpened as he took in the younger prince's words. "How Isis brought her husband Osiris back to life, after their brother Set killed him and tore him to pieces."

Yes, the most sacred and widely known of stories- The tale of how Osiris rose from a tortured, broken death long enough to sire Horus with Isis, before passing peaceably on to the underworld where he ruled as king. But Atem did not understand why Sawheru brought it up- Until he spoke on - "But... Father isn't the one who died... She is..." - the soft, hesitant melancholy of the huddled boy cutting an unexpected, new hole in the prince's battered heart.

Sawheru curled in even tighter on himself, and in that moment - watching the boy fight back the clear urge to cry - it was simple as breathing for Atem to ignore the surreal pressure in his chest, step smoothly around his uncertainty, and sit beside his brother. Sawheru's eyes followed his movements, a mute question in his gaze, but Atem stared right passed his confusion with a weak, but steady warmth.

"You are right, Mother is like her. And Father will be as Osiris, when he passes into the west, so Mother _should_ be treated as his wife, Isis. So we will give them to her- The lotus." And finally Atem managed something of a smile, if only the ghost of one, to see the pain ebb in Sawheru's eyes, clearing the way for a somber wonder. "Fill her rooms up with them. Fold them in her clothes. Burn lotus oil in the chambers before we close them- There will be enough to surround her in the scent for eternity- And I will tell Siamun, and he will tell the workers to paint lotus on all of the walls, and show Mother among them, embraced by the goddess." After all, Siamun was always charged with the protection, and thus preparation of royal tombs. Surely he would know what to do, listen to the boy's pleas for what their own mother should have in the afterlife.

It would be their last gift to her...

"-that's good..." Sawheru whispered, and he _did_ smile- If only a little, a surprised gratitude there in his glance. But it was still all but drowned in sorrow, and when the boy looked beyond him to the pool again a heavy, empty chill settled in Atem's bones despite the heat of the sun blazing through the cover of the tree branches.

What else could he possibly say? He... He _had_ said the right thing, he knew that, he could _tell_. There just wasn't anything to fix this...

Mother was _dead_.

And as Atem followed Sawheru's lead, staring at the blooms bobbing gently on the water, he could think of nothing to say- Nothing, until his brother chose to speak up first.

"...will you stay?"

"-for the burial?" Atem asked, blinking back to attention only to realize Sawheru wouldn't meet his gaze, seeming to only tense more at the question. But, but that was such a given- Of course the pharaoh and he would not leave until the seventy days passed and mother- Mother was...

...Sawheru, he- He was asking about _after_ the burial, wasn't he?

"...I don't know," Atem finally managed, but his answer was air, and when he saw the faint whiff of hope in Sawheru's eyes snuff out, he knew the little prince realized it, too.

Atem and their father would surely leave- The loss of the Great Royal Wife would not free the king from his duties, nor the crown prince from following in his footsteps. And Father's _Heb Sed_ festival was supposed to happen soon- It might be delayed for the mourning, but whenever it was over they were supposed to tour the country from one end of the Nile to the other, visit each city and temple in turn and allow the people to play host to their king. And young prince had been on the river enough times to know, between the travel and the visits and the festivals, they would be lucky to be back in Waset in four months- More likely _six_... And chances were, they never return for long...

Atem had never really regretted the long trips before, and a part of him _ached_ to put Waset behind him now that his mother was gone and he knew what sort of men lingered there. But Sawheru... There was just no reason to bring him along, was there? Atem was only allowed the luxury for the lessons the travel provided- Lessons a prince like Sawheru, who would never rule, did not need.

Looking at him now, silent and grim and accepting of what Atem hadn't even said, he realized- He would be alone now. Atem had Father and Siamun and the priests, but Sawheru... He didn't have Mother anymore. He wouldn't even really have _Melinia_ \- Since she had turned thirteen and moved officially into adulthood, their sister's movement had become restricted, like those of any high-ranked lady at court.

The only regular, viable link between the royal siblings had been their _mother..._ And that was gone now, too... She couldn't help the younger prince, either. Sawheru would be virtually alone in a den of wolves- With nobles who laughed eagerly at the thought of his death.

Some courtier seeing Sawheru's vulnerability and _actually_ taking advantage of it was _madness_ , yet the very idea turned Atem's sloshed nerves to steel. He couldn't even protect him, he _had_ to go with Father-

But maybe, there was _something_...

"Come on-" The prince broached the stillness so suddenly Sawheru flinched when he reached out and tugged on the smaller boy's arm. The two shared a quick, tense, baffled look at the unaccustomed contact, but Atem wouldn't be distracted. "I want to show you something."

Something about his expression must have been convincing, for Sawheru stalled only long enough to rub the tears from his face and allowed himself to be hauled up and led across the garden, to the edge of the pool. There were no trees hugging in around them there- Just the artificial lake on one side and tiled ground everywhere else. Atem knelt back down upon his knees, gesturing in front of him to the other boy. "Sit down and close your eyes."

"...why?" Sawheru asked, and Atem had to catch himself at the surreal, prickly confusion that struck him. It wasn't a hard question, but... Even at his age, ever in the shadow of the king, the prince was not used to have his orders challenged.

"-I want to teach you something Father and Siamun showed me," he managed, words heavy with a rigid patience. It did the trick, though, Sawheru's plum orbs going wide - wid _er_ \- before the boy slowly, silently mirrored Atem's position and shut his eyes.

"Good." The older boy nodded, settling back on his own slippered heels and relaxing into the memory of the instructions he meant to give as he shut his own eyes. "You are going to call a spirit. Now-"

"What?!" Atem flinched back at the noise, looking again just in time to see Sawheru losing his balance, catching himself with one hand just before he collided with the tiles. And he was slow to right himself, openly balking up at him, alarmed- Even fearful. "I can't- That's a priest thing!"

"Yes, you _can_ ," Atem insisted. But knowing how that must sound to his brother - how impossible, even _sacrilegious_ \- the prince remained patient in his assurance, and his frown was set but soft as he explained. "Only the priests and Father can _command_ the spirits- They summon them from the tablets and the spirits do their bidding as if they were their own, personal _Ka_. But this is different."

"...what is it?" Sawheru asked, doubt still plain in his features. But his alarm had all but died away, funneled into a weak wariness that was dying fast in the face of growing curiosity.

"It is not a normal summon, it's a _call_ \- You are going to _ask_ a spirit to come to you. Help you, if you need it." That was how Siamun had put it, at least. He had been helping Atem with the process for months, saying that while the prince could not learn to control spiritsdirectly without an Item, _calling_ them still had its merits. It allowed the boy to interact with _Kas_ and understand them, earn their cooperation, hold mock battles with the vizier and learn his own strengths and weaknesses.

He had heard some of the priests express concern that a boy so young should not be handed such power, but his father wanted the crown prince to be familiar with the practice by the time he took the throne. And in the meantime, Atem shouldn't be left vulnerable if he could be given the means to protect himself.

Surely... Surely, even if the prince had been warned not to share these secrets with others, Father would approve of _Sawheru_ knowing. He would want him to be safe, too!

"If you are strong enough to reach them," Atem went on, pushing aside any uncertainty left in his mind. "And the spirit feels akin to you somehow, it will appear."

"But..." Sawheru frowned, but Atem saw no real protest in him anymore- Only uncertainty. "How?"

"Close your eyes," he repeated, the order coaxing this time, and the boy listened, squeezing his eyes shut with a tense zeal.

Finally unobserved, Atem brushed a few hanging tears from his own cheeks- Tears that had gathered during their talk of lotus flowers, but he hadn't wanted to draw attention to it. But with his visioned cleared the prince was left with the surreal realization that _he_ was the teacher now- The leader. Even with his station and long line of servants, Atem had never really _led_ anyone before, and the thought of trying with _Sawheru_ of all people- It might well have stolen his tongue completely, had he allowed it to.

He dove forward before the thought could linger, rushing into remembered words and long drilled lessons. "First off, clear your head as much as you can. Focus on nothing- Focus on what I'm saying and on your heart, the feeling of it beating inside of your chest-.. How it goes faster when you are excited, hurts when you are sad." Hurt as it likely did now- As Atem's own did. "Think about how it feels- _Having_ a heart."

Even after his own mastery, the prince couldn't really explain what that meant. It was just something Siamun had said, and when he stopped fighting him for meaning, and just _tried_ , it had come naturally.

Thankfully, for all his earlier protests, Sawheru proved more agreeable, saying nothing as his dark brow furrowed in clear concentration beneath the tuft of gold hair that fell in his eyes. And, even if he was practically flinching, Atem could have sworn his brother didn't look so... _Pained_ , right then... It might mean nothing, His eyes were shut. But the thought still occurred to Atem before he blinked passed his own distraction and went on. "Now. You have to believe the spirits are real and that they can appear before you. Do you believe it?"

"Yes," Sawheru answered, a frown tugging at his lips for the obvious answer. How could _either_ of them - the children of Akhenamkhanen - ever doubt _that_?

"No," Atem countered, shaking his head out of impulse, forgetting that his brother could not see. "You have to _see it_. Imagine a spirit right in front of you, looking at you."

It was a testament to Sawheru that he did not question _that_ , but tried without comment, going very, very still as if he were straining to hear something... Before his eyes suddenly burst open, unseeing and dilated and shocked. "I could see it! But it was- I was thinking about Father's falcon spirit- I never saw _that_ one before!"

"That's right," Atem assured, covering his bone-deep relief that the boy _was_ indeed capable of the feat with a simple nod. "The spirit is real- You just saw your own _Ka_."

Sawheru didn't say anything, but that stone-still wonder... Atem probably could have knocked him over with a single finger right then. For a breath he was tempted to ask what Sawheru's own _Ka_ looked like, but no. He didn't need to know. He wasn't doing this for his own curiosity, he was doing it to _help_. "But you have to let that go, we're not calling that."

Sawheru blinked once and then glowered, affronted disappointment staining every syllable he uttered. "But you said I was calling a spirit."

"Not that one- That was _your Ka_ ," Atem emphasized. "It's not safe to bring that out." It was dangerous enough teaching Sawheru how to call _any_ spirit, but to summon out his own _Ka_ \- Atem had never seen it happen or heard of an incident, but he knew fighting with one's own _Ka_ was special, that the connection was better and faster and stronger, but it was also lethal. Nothing drained the _Ba_ faster or promised certain death like the destruction of the spirit in one's own heart.

"I'm teaching you how to call a _free_ spirit," Atem explained. "To do that you do the same thing you just did- But listen for an _outside_ heart, not yours." Sawheru only blinked, too confused to even frown or question. But the older prince had no better words for him, so all he could do was shake his head with a frown. "Just try it- Close your eyes and imagine that same 'having a heart' feeling, but don't search for it within your own chest- See if you can find the same feeling _outside_ of you somewhere."

It was beyond strange, he knew, but it was all he had had to go on, too. All Atem could do was hold his breath and wait as Sawheru slowly shut his eyes, squeezing them tight and going stiff with focus.

It was torture, not moving the whole time. Atem wasn't even sure how long it took, but he knew if he so much as fidgeted he might distract the younger boy, so he simply waited. Watched- Stared at the boy as he focused, at the soft ripples of water in the pond- The little white bird that made them as it swam towards a flower before suddenly flying for the tree the boys had abandoned.

The movement held Atem's numb interest until Sawheru suddenly jerked, turning towards the water- But not _to_ it. It was like he had heard something and was seeking the sound, prompting the older boy to whisper excitedly to him. "Good, now quick- Put your hand out to it and call it to you- But silently, with your heart."

He was so slow about it that Atem was certain he would _lose_ it again, but finally the prince put out his hand, little fingers curling slowly back into a fist like he was trying to grasp something and pull it to him. -had Atem done that, when he first tried? He couldn't remember.

Either way-

It was like the sunlight split into pieces right in the air, parting and scattering to make room for the presence of something that had not been there before. Or had not been visible- And now it was, just out of Sawheru's reach and hanging between the boys, bobbing softly up and down in the air.

It was small- Small enough that Atem could have reached out and held it in his arms if he wanted. A little ball of brown, ruffled fur, with green feet, tiny claws, white wings, and big, _big_ brown eyes that blinked down at the both of them in obvious confusion.

"- _kuri_ ~?"

"-it worked!" Sawheru cried, making the spirit do a practical somersault to get away from the sound, only to double back with the same curious stare when it made eye contact with its marveling summoner.

"It did- Good job," Atem congratulated, the relief of success lightening his own expression as he inspected the spirit, studying it as it and Sawheru studied one another.

It looked like a _good_ spirit, that definitely boded well. As with their own _ka_ , the spirits a person called reflected their own nature - 'like attracting like' was how Siamun put it. And if the spirit was good, Sawheru certainly was, too.

But... it was also so small. _Weak_ , if it was only as powerful as it looked, and _that_ reflected on Sawheru, too.

Atem was careful to keep that consideration and concern from his face, though, as he grabbed both of their attention. "Remember how it feels to have this spirit around, then next time you can call _this one_ and not just any spirit that's around. Then you will find it again and it will appear- If it wants to," the prince corrected, giving the spirit an allowing glance that it answered with a quiet, wondering trill.

"Really?" Sawheru and the spirit met eyes again, sizing one another up... And, weak as it was, the young prince actually managed a smile. "Hello, my name is Sawheru."

" _Kri_?"

"You can't tell me yours? That's alright- But my brother says you came because you answered my call? Thank you!" Sawheru's smile broadened, and then shifted to said brother who merely looked back, his own lips twitching with satisfaction and more than a little bemusement. Certainly, Atem _liked_ and appreciated the grand, armored spirits that answered his own calls, but he never _chatted_ with them the way Sawheru was now, following the spirit's curious stares about the garden and striving to interpret them. "Do you want to look around? If you came from somewhere else, I bet you want to... Can he?" he asked, turning back to Atem.

"If it is nearby, and not long," he answered, watching the spirit begin to wander with a close, critical eye. "He will disappear if he goes too far, and you should not keep him 'here' for long. Whether you feel it or not, that spirit is using your _Ba_ to stay 'real'- That is your life force, and you cannot use too much of it at once. Even dismissing him back will use up some of it." And Sawheru was so new to calling, he would likely tire out in a matter of minutes- Unless the spirit really _was_ weak and not much of a drain, or Sawheru himself actually had the strength to maintain him.

"But-" Sawheru started, the shaken hesitancy of his voice drawing Atem's attention back to him as he asked, "Why did you teach me to call him?"

...should he really tell him? It would likely just upset him again, mentioning those nobles and their mother. And the more Atem looked at the spirit, the more he worried he wouldn't be strong enough to protect anyone, anyways, and he would be distressing Sawheru for nothing.

No, better to simply shrug and say, "Because, you won't be too lonely if you learn to keep him around- Or any other spirit, now that you know how to call them."

-he had expected dismissal, or acceptance, or even doubt. What Atem had _not_ imagined was Sawheru sucking in his breath hard and staring at him, eyes wide and intense and still alarmingly unreadable. "…you, taught me, so I could have a friend?"

The brothers were caught, frozen, each in shock- Atem taken aback as he considered the question and realized, was it really wrong? Yes, he had been thinking of it in terms of _support_ , protection, but it was the general idea of Sawheru being alone that bothered him so. 'Friend' had never occurred to him - as it wouldn't, he couldn't really say he had any _himself_ after all - but, why not?

He didn't answer directly, turning his own red eyes up on the spirit that floated a short distance away over the waters. "If you and this one like each other. You can call another one, if you need to-" He didn't finish, for when he swerved his gaze back on his brother he realized Sawheru was crying again.

It was a quiet, almost unmoving cry, tears simply falling every time the boy blinked, until he finally reached up and tried to rub them away with a shaking sniffle.

The newly called spirit was instantly there, hovering over the prince's head with an alarmed look and a strange, checking, comforting sort of coo, but Atem was stuck, frozen and confused and filled with a rising, grasping remorse- Until Sawheru suddenly looked up with a watery smile, tears hovering in eyes that shone bright. Touched.

_Happy_.

"Thank you!"

Atem said nothing in return, but slowly, tentatively smiled, a sharp, sweet relief flooding through his veins.

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Lotus_ – Flower name used erroneously by Egyptians for water lilies  
_Seventy Days_ \- It took seventy days to fully, properly prepare a mummy and bury it.  
_Heb Sed_ – Celebration of a pharaoh's 30th year reigning, meant to revitalize an aging king.

**Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai


	28. Chapter 28

Thirtieth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" ** _People bring about their own undoing through their tongues _.__** "  
_~ Proverb etched on the walls of Luxor Temple_

"Gaia-" Atem swallowed, his heart in his throat as the spirit looked back at him. He had to be strong, and direct, but _not_ harsh- He has to _encourage_ not order- "You are strong enough- You can defeat it! Just don't let it strike first!"

-was that enough? Too much? Siamun said he had to read and understand and work _with_ spirits, especially when he had no Item to control- In the worst case scenario the very spirit he sought aid from might _turn on him_.

But that was why that very vizier was standing by, the Millennium Key in hand and a demonic-looking horned skeletal spirit at his back. The _Ka_ looked beyond tough, but it wasn't there to fight- Siamun was simply prepared to intervene should things get out of control.

"Flame Tiger- Dodge the spear and aim for the horse!" The wielder of the Millennium Scales Nehi called and his _Ka_ followed the order fluidly, feinting left before diving to catch the knight's steer mid-attack.

"-stop, Gaia!" Atem cried, panic seizing him- Only for more to spill out of his mouth before he even stopped to consider. "Whack it away with your other spear!"

-it worked, in so far as he could have hoped. The knight knocked the flaming tiger back fast enough that the beast's claws merely grazed the belly of its charging violet steed, both spirits left staggering for balance.

Atem felt it- In the pit of his stomach, a burning rip that made him flinch and clutch his gut as the spirit's horse neighed in distress... But he did not cry out. He _would_ not- It was only a light wound, and wouldn't leave any true mark. And if Siamun noticed-

"Stop!" cried the vizier, and when the prince looked his way he saw the old man was eyeing him with a furrowed brow.

No... A grim, decided disappointment filled the boy, but still he tried to protest. "I can still fight!"

"Your heart may be willing," Siamun replied, dismissing the Summoned Skull so that it turned to a ray of light and shot back into the Shrine of Waset- the miniature pyramid hovering just behind him. "But come- Come here and speak to me, if you wish to convince me of your spirit."

Atem frowned in confusion- Only to realize the vizier's meaning the moment he tried to move. One step and he stumbled, dizzy.

Siamun was there in a heartbeat, supporting the prince by his back as he gave a low chuckle that rumbled through the small royal's shoulders. "Careful now- Do you see what I mean?"

"What's wrong with me?" Atem asked, too woozy for true alarm as he blinked up at the veiled man. "Why am I so tired?" He felt like he could fall asleep on his feet!

"It is the spirit, my prince." Siamun gestured to where the knight and tiger still hovered, both looking on with indecipherable expressions. "It is impressive that you managed to call one of this caliber, especially at your young age, but you still need to build up the strength of your _Ba_ if you wish to sustain him enough for a proper fight."

-was that it? Atem stared up into the covered face of his spirit, the slit-holes of Gaia's helmet telling him little about the quiet spirit's thoughts. He was still learning how to work with this particular spirit... It had been proved very responsive in the prince's _other_ mock battles, and Atem had endured no side effects after the fight. But, this current fight _had_ dragged on a while...

"I think we can call this fight over for the day," observed Nehi, motioning with his Scales. The flame tiger disappeared in a burst of light, disappearing into the shrine as the skeleton had as the priest moved closer to kneel before Atem. "Pray send for me again, my prince, if I can be of any aid to you. In the meantime, I pray that you will rest."

The boy fought back a frown, knowing it was no use. If he protested that he could still fight, Nehi would just stay silent as Siamun coaxed or scolded him into letting the priest go- The vizier being only one allowed to directly lecture the prince, besides the pharaoh himself. Likely that was why Father ordered that he never practice spirit calling without the vizier.

And in any case, direct arguments and hot heads were not allowed during these training sessions. If Atem lingered too long on his frustration, it could be dangerous- Siamun said bad things could happen if you lost your temper near the shrine...

With little option, the boy wordlessly released his own spirit, feeling the weary tug of its departure even as he focused on the priest. "...I will... Thank you, Nehi."

"Yes... And he is right, you _should_ rest-" Siamun agreed as the priest moved to withdraw, putting his own lined hand on the royal child's shoulder and leading him back to the palace proper. "You need to know how to do this for when you wield the Millennium Pendant one day, but there is no point in rushing. All you need is a little more practice before-"

"Who goes there?!"

Elderly man and young boy alike turned at the harsh call and watched as Nehi suddenly swerved off of his own departing path and made for one of the obelisks that surrounded the shrine, moving with quick, assertive steps-

Only to stumble up short when a little body flailed out from behind the obelisk and landed at the priest's feet.

"-Sawheru?" And it was, and all Atem could do was blink and questionably call his name as his brother peeled himself off of the sands to peer skittishly up at the lot of them.

Honestly? Atem wasn't even surprised. He had caught the younger prince trailing after him at least a dozen times in the last few weeks- Especially since their mother's mourning period officially passed, and the _Heb Sed_ festival soon after.

The whole thing was odd, though- Atem was more than willing to talk to Sawheru - he had thought of his younger sibling much more fondly since that black day their mother died - but _every_ time he asked why he was following him, Sawheru froze up. He clearly _tried_ to say something sometimes, but he shut his mouth and disappeared as soon as someone else came into view and interrupted them. A priest, a guard, a servant- It didn't matter. Whatever his brother wanted to say to him, he apparently didn't want anyone else to hear it or know.

And someone was _always_ near the crown prince.

"What are you doing there, Prince Sawheru?" Siamun stepped forward, pinning the skittish child with his question before he could find his feet and run off again.

Glancing uncertainly between one priest and the other, Sawheru slowly rose and dusted off the back of his kilt-skirt as he quietly mumbled. "I just wanted to talk to my brother..."

"That's well enough," Nehi said, his hard hard tones making the boy jolt- But there was nothing particularly scornful about his frown. He seemed more troubled than anything. "But you saw the battle... Did you also overhear Siamun Muran's instruction to the prince on how to call a spirit?"

It was a basic review Siamun always gave Atem before a fight- More for everyone's peace of mind than anything else, to be sure he didn't make some drastic beginner's mistake. The prince knew what he was doing well enough, but one wrong move, one wrong uncontrolled emotion or thought at the wrong time, and he could summon something _very_ unintended and _very_ bad.

Atem had all but ignored the words that morning, zipping through the process to call Gaia the Fierce Knight to him... But Siamun _had_ given them. And as Sawheru stared silently up at Nehi, Atem could see the truth as clear as day in his open, fearful gaze.

He _had_ heard.

"My boy," Siamun breathed, stepping almost between the boy and the other priest as he frowned worriedly down at Sawheru. "You know that it is forbidden to even _know_ of these practices, do you not? We do not even let most see the tablets- That is why we keep even trusted servants from this place, and have the guards stationed nearby but _away_ from the shrine. How you even managed to reach us..."

But the vizier was trailing off, for he had clearly, belatedly caught on to how Sawheru kept looking, confused and nervous, towards Atem. And when Siamun looked from the second prince to the first, Atem couldn't help but flinch.

"...my prince?"

Oh, _why_ did Sawheru have to look at him? Atem was horrid at lying, even _silently_!

Knowing he could say nothing to fix this- Nothing to cover what he had done, the prince kept his mouth shut, hoping they would read nothing on his face…

"-I do not think this is the first time Prince Sawheru has seen the ways of the spirits," Nehi observed aloud, seemingly speaking to the vizier. His deep brown eyes lingered on Atem, though, with a weary sort of disapproval that made the prince clench his hands to keep from fidgeting.

Siamun did not answer directly, but after a long, somber moment, he gestured for both boys to approach him - which they did, each dragging their feet - before asking, "My prince... Have you been showing spirits to your brother?"

He couldn't help it- He chanced a quick, checking glance at Sawheru, catching the anxious, beseeching look he shot him - as if to say _please don't be mad_ \- before he blinked and looked back up at the vizier, setting his face like stone.

There was no point hiding from it.

"You and I and Father and the priests are leaving Waset in ten days' time," Atem stated, prompting a baffled blink of Siamun's plum eyes before he slowly nodded.

"Yes, that is so, Prince Atem."

"When we go," he went on, shooting another glance at Sawheru only to find the boy listening intently, disappointment and wonder playing havoc in his young gaze. "He will be here alone- I wanted my brother to feel safe, without Mother, so I taught him how to call a spirit."

"By Ra-" Nehi breathed. He didn't sound scornful anymore. He sounded downright alarmed. _Afraid_.

Atem stared astounded at the usually steady, somber priest, but Siamun spoke up and demanded his attention far too quickly to judge anything. "You should not have done that, my prince- I understand that your heart was in the right place, and in time I might well have been ordered to instruct Prince Sawheru in the art myself." The vizier dropped a fond, almost sad look on the second prince, stiff and silent and small beneath his gaze. "But spirits can be very dangerous things- No one should use them lightly, much less _ignorantly_. The very fact you know how to call them- It makes you vulnerable to their influence. And now _they_ will be sensitive to you-"

"My brother warned me!" Sawheru interrupted, making them all jolt and double-take at the sudden, earnest noise from the soft-spoken boy. "He said that I shouldn't call any spirit that feels too strong for me to send back- And, and that I can't keep one out too long or it will hurt me- Drain my... ' _Ba_ '? And that I need to work with my spirits if I want to fight well with them-"

"Them?" Atem couldn't help but interrupt, meeting Sawheru's blinking glance with a frozen, curious stare, until the younger nodded, a small, delighted little smile growing on his face.

"Yes, that is what I wanted to tell you- I found another spirit that likes me. _And_ I figured out how to summon my own _Ka_!"

"What?" Siamun breathed, and before he or Nehi or the taken aback Atem could say anything the little prince squeezed his eyes shut, put out his hand- And a spirit appeared before him in a blast of light that left all of them blinking and covering their faces until it died away.

It was- A child. A little child - maybe even a little smaller than Sawheru himself, garbed in strange robes of blue and white with a matching wand and white hat upon its head that covered a cascade of turned-up silver hair and an eye, so only one violet-red orb blinked at them beneath the brim.

 _That_ \- Atem began to think, only to fall silent even within his own mind. He didn't know what he had expected.

"-she's great, huh?" Sawheru smiled at the spirit, and it returned it with a humorless, but somehow still warm glance. Looking at her, now that the light wasn't blinking him anymore, Atem couldn't help that the spirit- It's face... It was the face of the sort of person you could share your deepest fears with, and know they were safe. Know they would be protected. Know _you_ were protected.

It, reminded Atem somehow of _Mother's_ face.

"She?" Atem repeated weakly, prompting a wordless nod from his brother before Sawheru rushed on.

"Yup, and I've been working on calling out the other two spirits I befriended while she is summoned- Father, he can summon three spirits at once, can't he? So I thought, if I tried that with her and the other two-"

"Sawheru-" Siamun choked out, prompting both boys to start in surprise. The vizier _never_ called either of them by their own name! But, he looked white and green beneath his veil, maybe too shocked to recall- "You cannot... You could _kill_ yourself doing such a thing without training!"

Atem's breath caught in his throat as he heard Sawheru choke on his own. He hadn't- He hadn't known _that_ was possible-

"Yes," Nehi stared critically down at the tiny spirit, who clutched her little white wand closer as she stared right back, cowering but unflinching. "And there is little point in mastering such a feat with such a spirit, young prince. That would only be useful if you were in an actual battle, and striving to overwhelm an enemy with multiple, _strong_ spirits."

"...what?" Sawheru asked, his voice as tiny as dust as he stared at the priest, his enthusiasm smashed to pieces. And all Atem could do was watch, caught- Caught between a grim but resigned dread and a swift, sharp desire to tell Nehi to _shut his mouth_.

"What Nehi means, my prince," Siamun cut in, to Atem's relief- Though when he peeked at Sawheru out of the corner of his eye he saw that the younger prince wasn't meeting the vizier's eye. He was staring at his own sandaled feet, looking- It made the older boy's stomach tighten, that lost, bleak look.

"-only if you already have very, very strong _heka_ , and if you have spirits that are suited for such a combination attack," Siamun was saying, though neither boy was fully listening, or looking at him. "Or ones so powerful on their own that it doesn't matter if you are dividing your focus- One alone can do the job while the other two distract your enemy-"

"But..." Sawheru finally raised his head up, only to lock eyes with his little _Ka_ , the girl spirit mirroring his wretched expression perfectly before slowly disappearing, presumably dismissed by the silent boy. "You don't think, she could do that..."

-this wasn't right. Even if he couldn't fight, Atem had taught Sawheru spirit calling to _cheer_ him, not upset him! And he tried, _tried_ to fix it, saying "Father is special- His spirits are of the Gods- They are supposed to be the Gods' own divine _Ka_. None of us could do what he does..." And it was true- Atem could only _pray_ he would one day be capable of summoning them himself, much less all three at _once_. His brother shouldn't be holding himself to that standard...

But, Sawheru didn't look at all placated. He just turned his gaze back to his feet, until Siamun spoke again, a coaxing, sympathetic smile at his lips. "My prince- Why are you working so hard at this?"

"I just-" Sawheru tried, only to stumble into silence as he flushed- Only able to say more when he dodged all of their gazes and looked up at the shrine. "I thought if I was strong enough, you might take me with you... That I could help..."

 _Oh_... "That's not possible," Atem breathed without a thought, and his brother's eyes turned on him, wide and hurt- And that look only seemed to grow worse as Sawheru read the sincere sympathy in his own gaze.

Because, it _wasn't_. Atem had once thought his father was simply _happy_ to bring him along when he traveled the kingdom, but the prince had long since realized the truth- Whispered between priests and servants in broken fragments across the years.

He was allowed the rare honor to join the pharaoh's entourage because his father was aging. Akhenamkhanen was old enough to have grandchildren- _Had_ had grandchildren once upon a time, Atem knew- Grandchildren who would be older than he and Sawheru, had they lived. By now the pharaoh's heir should be a full-grown man with children of his own to secure the throne. Perhaps even _grandchildren_ of his own! Instead, his heir was Atem, a boy of only seven. And where the pharaoh could afford to give Sawheru a proper royal childhood, sequestered in the 'safety' of the court until he was deemed old enough to take on responsibilities and titles, there was no time to waste on Atem. _He_ needed to learn how to rule and fight _now_ , even as he learned to write and count and all of the other basic things a boy his age should know, because there may be no chance later.

Atem hated to think about it - how his whole life was built around the anticipation of his father's death - but it was his reality, and one he could not ignore or set aside.

And one Sawheru could not take up for him. Even if they wanted it, Sawheru was already promised to a different future.

Before Atem could explain himself, though, and hopefully banish the confused pain from the boy's face, Nehi interrupted him with a stiff smile and would-be comfort. "Do not worry, my prince. Some of the pharaoh's own priests have weaker personal _Kas_ \- You will simply need to learn how to compensate for it, should the pharaoh approve your education in the art-"

-how was _that_ supposed to make him feel better?!

Atem glowered up at the priest, unnoticed, as Sawheru returned to skirting their gazes.

"The gods gave you the power to summon your own spirit, whatever it may be." Siamun's input was solemn, but reassuring, and he rolled heedlessly on even as Sawheru refused to look at him. "That is a fortunate sign in itself, and we will find what you are meant to do with your _Ka_ , my prince. I will have to ask the pharaoh, but now that you know _this_ much we cannot leave you ignorant. I will make certain to train you, at least enough to keep you safe. But in the meantime you should not be even _standing_ here. I had to teach your brother the prince how to conduct _his_ heart around the spirits before I ever let him try-"

A hot, sharp bitterness flooded Atem's mouth, and for one breath he thought he had bitten himself. But no- Siamun had stopped talking, too, and he was looking up with the same stare as Nehi- Half-baffled, half-dreading. Before either boy could ask, though, a great crackling filled the air.

"What is-"

"Vizier!" Nehi cried, pointing upwards towards... The shrine roof? Atem followed the gesture himself, only to stumble back into Siamun's trembling arms as they all stared.

A black cloud had descended upon the obelisk-shaped roof, swallowing it up. But it wasn't quite thick enough to hide it... The outline of a great beast hanging off of the etched pillar, claws gleaming white as they scraped on the stone and made a sound like a scream, its eyes glowing red as it looked upon them.

 _Saw_ them.

"-Sawheru!" Siamun cried, jerking around to stare horrified at the prince. The boy stared right back at him in numb confusion until realization struck him with clear, chilled horror as Atem's own stomach dropped with black understanding.

 _No_ -

"I- I didn't-!" Sawheru tried to protest, tears hanging in his eyes but frozen there by overwhelming fear as he looked up at the dragon and back, stumbling backwards into Nehi's leg.

The priest ignored him, snapping at Siamun over the prince's head. "It is too large! If it attacks it could destroy the palace- It could _kill_ if we do not stop it!"

But the vizier didn't even react, reaching out to grasp Sawheru's shoulders and tug him close again with a look in his eyes- Atem couldn't call it harsh, but the buried kindness there somehow made his gaze _harder_ as he stared into Sawheru's shaking, matching violets. "Whether you meant to or not, you must have called out to it in your heart." That _was_ how it was- Atem remembered well how Siamun warned him against letting his thoughts grow too 'loud' or 'dark' – especially near the tablets – because it could attract… _things_.

 _But no one warned Sawheru._ Atem's gut twisted with regret and guilt. He had not thought to- Never imagined _this_ -

"You are the only one who can send it back!" the vizier cried, and Sawheru began to shake under his hands, staring up at the dragon with lost, panicking eyes until Siamun jerked him into looking to _him_ again, striving futilely to reassure. "I will _help you_ , but you must focus-"

"Vizier!" Nehi cried, but it was too late. Atem turned to find the creature rising out of the fog. It was- It was a dragon. A gigantic, black dragon, aglow with shining red orbs spread all across its body. It was still looking at them, and for one, brief breath the world simply froze. The dragon, the men, and the boys, all staring at one another in suspended stillness…

Then the beast jerked its tail down and smashed through the obelisk-top of the shrine... And it began to crumble.

"No!" Siamun cried, but in his effort to gather both paralyzed boys to him he moved too slowly. There was no time to run- The stones were falling and Atem couldn't think- Couldn't do anything as he watched death rain down upon them.

All he could do was take Sawheru's seeking, trembling fingers and clutch them.

" _No!_ " It was Nehi- When he turned and saw they had not moved with him, he help up the Scales and a figure appeared- The Battle Steer, the priest's own spirit. It pushed all three back with a sweep of his giant arm and they toppled over in a thoughtless heap, the princes atop the gasping vizier. Before Atem could think beyond the shock and the pain in his ribs-

_Thud._

All three lay together in a tense hush, expecting the blow. But heartbeats passed and Atem slowly, fearfully, opened his eyes.

Battle Steer- It had pushed them to safety, and taken the impact of the broken, titanic stones upon itself.

There was no blood, for it was only a spirit. But whole chunks of its body had turned to wisps of wind, and the rest faded away even as Atem watched.

Not a yard away, the priest fell face first to the sands, unmoving as his sacred Item clattered from his fingers.

"Nehi?!" Atem didn't even think- He was simply up, stumbling for balance so that he could run-

"No-" A hand squeezed his arm and jerked him back, and Siamun rose behind him, his features grim beneath his veil as he stared upwards at the circling dragon. "That was his own _Ka_ , my prince. If it is gone, Nehi is gone." Sawheru hadn't even found his feet, and the vizier's words sent him tumbling over again- But Siamun would not allow it, and reached out with his other hand to drag the little prince back up and keep him there. "Now, we must stop it."

"…yes," Atem breathed, pulling himself free and squeezing his eyes shut, calling- _praying_ for help. Once more, his fierce knight of a spirit appeared before him, and he called out to it. "Gaia! You must lead that dragon away from here! Take it- Take it to the river-"

" _No_ \- You must not!" Siamun anxiously waved his arms at the mounted spirit, who had not even moved. "That will lead it to the townspeople!"

 _Oh_ , Atem thought, the sound resounding flat and useless in his head as he looked up at the spirit. He hadn't thought of that… But what could he do?! The prince had this strong, great spirit before him, and he was too weary to even keep it solid for long! And even if he could, that dragon looked like it could wipe Gaia out in moments!

How did one win a fight when the opponent was stronger?!

"I…" Atem looked back at the sound and watched as Sawheru struggled for words, his lips trembling as he looked up at the dragon- The beast that he had, apparently, brought into being. "I- I never... I never meant to-"

"I _know_ ," Siamun insisted, bending down on a knee to better meet the prince's eye as he implored him. "But you must focus! You must send it back!"

"I-" Sawheru kept staring up, and Atem only then recognized the hazed focus in his eyes for what it was- An effort to call out from the heart. But it was no use. Those same eyes filled up with tears as the boy shook his head with a sob. "I'm trying- It won't go away!"

"Curses.. Stand back, my princes!" Siamun cried as he rose to his feet again. Atem moved instantly, grabbing Sawheru by the arm and pulling him away as the vizier raised his Key- And the broken shrine burst out in black light.

 _Exodia_ \- Atem realized with a numb, shocked hope that made him beam as he recognized the giant that rose up before the shrine- _Larger_ than the shrine itself, and much greater than that dragon still circling above them!

 _This_ will do the job, the prince was certain! Why, every step the colossal spirit took away from the shrine shook the ground- and made Sawheru jump beside him. How could that rogue spirit hope to stop such a thing?!

"…oh, _gods_ …" Siamun breathed, making Atem blink out of his relief into a world of confusion. Wh- Why did he sound so scared?

Turning his chin up again, the prince surveyed the sky… And stared, confused yet instantly horrified, to see the black dragon completely aglow, red light shining from it. "What is that- an attack?!"

"A special ability!" Siamun called, stepping back to block the boys from the light that kept growing, brighter and brighter and breather, even as he yelled over the strange screech filling the air. "I have seen it before! It will destroy every spirit near it, and for every one destroyed inflict greater damage, and- Oh _Gods, **t**_ _ **he tablets**_ -" He cried in sudden terror, jerking about to stare at the half-ruined shrine as Atem felt his own blood running cold.

The- There were hundreds of spirits within the shrine! Could, could that dragon really destroy the tablets themselves?! Could it- What would _happen_?!

"Exodia cannot reach him in time, it- _Boys_ -" Siamun turned, trying to push them away, and Atem quailed to see his face. He had never seen the man so frightened before. "Go- _Run_. Dismiss Gaia and _go_ -"

But it was too late. Atem knew, and Siamun knew. He read it in the vizier's rising despair-

And apparently, so did _Sawheru_.

"No…" the younger prince breathed, shaking and crying but ducking under Siamun's arm to run _towards_ the light.

" ** _Sawheru_** _-_ " The vizier reached for the boy, brushed the back of his tunic with his fingers, and lost him. And Atem shook, then shook his head, and then moved to follow, jerking against Siamun's arms when he held him back.

"Stop him! We can't- We can't let him-" He was blathering, but he couldn't help it! He couldn't- He had already lost Mother, and now the brother he barely knew- Who he had _just_ begun to- " _Come back_ -"

But Sawheru didn't turn. He stopped just beside Nehi's fallen body, raised his arm, and- And Atem could barely see, squinting against the red glare and his tears as a round little ball of a spirit appeared at Sawheru's fingertips and-

"Go! Jump for the dragon and return to the shadows!"

 _-what did that mean?!_ Atem wanted to cry, but there was no time to do more than blink before the spirit – the very first spirit Atem had taught Sawheru to call – shot up towards the dragon, and the world exploded in burning red light.

He could feel it- He could feel how the attack would destroy the shrine, and Exodia, and Gaia, and reflect the power of that destruction on all of them. The palace and perhaps even the town would disappear, and they would die, and the court would die, and the people would die-

But no… Nothing happened. The light died away, the dragon hung listless in the air, and Sawheru was still there- Falling to his knees in a slump.

"Sawheru!" Atem cried, breaking free of Siamun's numb fingers to rush to the boy's side. But- Sawheru looked alright, and blinked blindly, dizzily up as Atem knelt beside him, stumbling for words. "How- What did you-"

"Winged, Kuriboh…" he mumbled, and when Atem just kept staring back at him he pointed up towards the dragon that was slowly, oh so slowly beginning to fly about again. "It can, stop an attack from hurting, if I call it and send it away again really fast. I found out, practicing with, my spirit."

Atem, couldn't answer. All he could do was stare at his struggling brother as he processed- _That spirit_. That tiny, weak little furry creature had had an ability like _that_ … And Sawheru had just done what Gaia and Exodir and another other spirit could not- Saved all of their lives using _that spirit_ , against _that monster_ -

A new light burst up before he could say anything, making him cover his eyes before he thought to fear and forced himself to look up again, searching for the attack only to hear the dragon cry out in pain as it fell beneath some great force, turning to black smoke before it could reach the ground-

And Sawheru slumped into his arms, dead weight.

"No!" Atem turned him, shook him, panic slicing through his heart as he tried to wake him - _he can't die he can't this is_ **_my fault_** _not now_ \- only for someone to come up and pluck Sawheru out of his arms. He looked up, ready to protest and-

Father.

The king gathered his little son close and stared sadly, lovingly down at Sawheru's face for a long, blistering moment, before turning his gaze on Atem. "He sleeps. Proof that he must have been linked to that dragon- But I had to destroy it, before it could gather enough strength to use that ability again. Praise to the Gods that I was not even later."

As Atem's senses moved beyond himself and the boy who had worried him, he realized- The Sky Dragon of Osiris. The great crimson dragon hovered over them all, eerily silent for a beast large enough to cover the breadth of the courtyard, and block out the sun. _That_ was what had destroyed the black dragon- And the prince hadn't even noticed it was summoned.

Nor could he focus on it until he was sure- "Will Sawheru be alright?"

"He will live," Akhenamkhanen confirmed, his pained smile growing only larger as Atem deflated with the verdict, relief sapping the last of his energy. "The dragon was strong, strong enough that Osiris's blow was not enough to destroy it and Sawheru both."

"And you knew that- That Sawheru would be alright," Atem clarified… Only for his weary grin to shrivel as he received no reply- Saw something grim and heavy pass across his father's face. _He- He_ ** _wouldn't_** _have-_

"Great Pharaoh-" It was Akhenaden, bowing into their presence with an indicative nod to the crowd of priests and guards that had followed the king into the courtyard. "They have taken Nehi away."

 _Nehi_ \- All other fears and thoughts fled Atem's mind as he looked beyond them to the body being carried away by guards, tears finally threatening to fall from his eyes. He had- He had never been very close to the priest but he was _Nehi_ \- He had been there all of Atem's life, served his father loyally and died _saving them_! And- And all because he had failed to warn Sawheru about the shrine- Had taught him in the first place-

"Atem-" The price jolted back into focus at the name, blinking up as his father nodded to the vizier. "Go with Siamun. It is dangerous here, and you must rest."

"Yes, Father..." he breathed, largely relieved to be dismissed and led away, to finally get to rest... But no more than three feet away-

"Pharaoh, I fear that we will have trouble if the boy stays here. If he goes-"

Atem tripped still, tense beneath Siamun's guiding hand and then pulling on it as he turned to check, unable to accept- But it was true. Father and Akhenaden were looking down at Sawheru!

"Goes where?!" The prince dodged the vizier's catching hands and rushed back, staring accusingly at the both of them- And feeling his panic rise as he read reluctance in both of their faces. "It wasn't his fault! He doesn't know any better!"

"No, he does not." Somehow, it would have been better if the old priest _had_ sounded cruel or callous or unkind- But Akhenaden looked as bleak as the king did as they locked eyes!

And Atem certainly would have snapped again- But it was his father who spoke, his voice warm, unbending iron. "Peace, Atem- We do not blame him, and we will not punish him. But we cannot ignore the danger we were all put in today, and Sawheru was the source of it."

"Then-" the prince stumbled, looking anxiously from his father's face to the tiny, sleeping boy, and back. "What will you do with him?"

"What I must," Akhenamkhanen breathed, no more than a whisper, before waving to Siamun to take the prince away once more. And Atem could not fight the pull again. The vizier led the prince away from the shrine, Atem's steps wooden and lagging as he strove to stifle the confusion and anger and guilt and fear stirring in his heart.

What… What had he _done_?

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms  
** -

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai

 **Summoners & Spirits Seen**  
_Atem_ \- Gaia the Fierce Knight  
_Nehi_ \- Flame Tiger, Battle Steer [Ka]  
_Siamun_ \- Summoned Skull, Exodia  
_Sawheru_ \- Silent Magician [Ka], Gandora, Winged Kuriboh  
_Akhenamkhanen_ – Sky Dragon of Osiris


	29. Chapter 29

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" ** _If one tries to navigate unknown waters,_**  
_**one runs the risk of shipwreck.**_ "  
_~ Proverb etched on the walls of Karnak Temple_

"Shada! Isis! Set!" Siamun stepped to the edge of the dais, naming the three who knelt just below, at the bottom of the steps that led to the throne- And the king seated upon it. "You have each been challenged by an Item, and each proven yourself worthy of wielding it- But you must also prove yourself worthy of the Great Pharaoh himself! Does your devotion to Kemet match the strength of your souls?! Will you yield yourself to a test of your loyalty?!"

"We so yield, Priest Siamun!" Set cried before the vizier even finished, the woman and man kneeling beside him echoing the claim with matching sincerity.

 _They will serve well_ , Atem predicted from his silent position upon the dais, right beside the veteran priests and his father. He had no chair, for the pharaoh was the only one who could sit in the throne room. But the prince stood at Akhenamkhanen's right hand in the highest place of honor, where Akhenaden or Siamun so often stood before Atem came of age... Where the two older men still _did_ when the heir left Waset without the king- Something Atem did with ever more regularity of late. Just three days ago the prince had been in Swenett, assessing recent shifts in administration over the local stone quarries. He had not finished the task, though, having dashed back to the palace the instant he heard his father had nearly died in an assassination attempt! Thankfully, the pharaoh escaped unharmed… But two of his six priests had not been so fortunate.

Atem had arrived just in time to witness the inauguration ceremony of their replacements.

"Then brace yourselves- I shall look into your hearts with the power of the Millennium Key!" Siamun warned, holding up the Item as Akhenaden stepped up beside him.

"And I shall search your minds with the aid of the Millennium Eye." The old priest was quieter than the vizier, but he gave the three candidates no true warning. In a blink his golden Eye shone and Atem could feel the buzz of black magic in the air, drying on his tongue with a bitter aftertaste. But it was nothing but feedback. It was the three below who endured the invasion of their very beings- A violation they allowed without protest, keeping their heads bowed as Akhenaden and Siamun judged them each in turn.

There was little to see as they awaited the verdict. The magic of the Items showed nothing to outside onlookers, and the prince's attention slowly shifted towards the two priests _not_ involved in the proceedings. Kalim, the current holder of the Scales, stood silent and still on his father's left, like a living bulwark …and Mahaad…

 _He_ stood just at Atem's elbow, but slightly behind- Towering over the prince yet somehow still hanging back in his shadow. Taking advantage of the ceremony's distraction, the prince craned his head about to look at the Ring's wielder. No one was looking- Not even Mahaad. He was staring at the three kneeling figures with a heavy, serious expression, as if something about them troubled him. Atem might have asked - later, of course - but he didn't imagine Mahaad would be open to sharing…

In many ways the Ring Priest _was_ the prince's shadow, or at least _had_ been once. For before Mahaad was ever a priest, he was Atem's own companion- Picked out five years ago from among the best of the school of Karnak Temple. Akhenamkhanen had long begun to fear that the prince's education was suffering, learning ever on the road from men who could not give his lessons their full attention. And so the pharaoh had called on Mahaad- A peer who could travel with the prince, share his lessons, and guide his progress. The two had spent many a day, week, and month sliding along the great river, learning together and from one another the history of the nation, mathematics, writing, spirit calling, anything and everything. But Atem's preferred memories were of simpler moments- Of playing a game of Senet or Mehen as the dying sunlight bounced off the river waters.

The prince would always be grateful to Mahaad for what he provided him- The experience, the wisdom, the devotion… But most importantly, the friendship. A blessing he had never truly known before the young magician.

Atem still sought his friend's company, when circumstances allowed, and Mahaad still displayed an instinctual impulse to guard his prince- As seen by his current hovering. But the two had not been of one, open mind for some time. Even when they were together something _weighed_ on the priest's heart, and he would not let Atem help him carry it. That burden stood like a wall between them, and try as he might to remove it, the prince was simply never around long enough to uncover the cause. He was so often away, while the Royal Six remained closed to the pharaoh.

And the pharaoh had become quite, _rooted_ in Waset…

The test was soon over, approval granted, and Akhenaden and Siamun each stepped back, bowing towards the pharaoh as he spoke.

"Rise." Akhenamkhanen's order was short, breathless, but kind as he gestured for two servants to step forward. They bowed before the rising trio, holding up two pristine, white pillows with golden Items upon them- The Millennium Rod, and the Millennium Tauk.

"It is our great sadness that Pentu and Neferu fell protecting our person. They were trusted friends and loyal servants to the kingdom, and protected our people admirably long before they became our royal priests… But we trust that you - Set, Isis - will stand as worthy successors to their legacies."

"We will do all that we can to serve you and Kemet well, O Great Pharaoh," swore Set as he took up the Rod, thumping the fist he held it with against his chest as he knelt once more. "And I pray we will be granted a chance to avenge their deaths, and the threat to your own sacred life. I was told the foolish assassins were Syrians-"

"And they were killed in the assault as well, Priest Set," the king interrupted with a rise of his hand, and when Atem turned a subtle on his father he read weary resignation in his gaze. This was not the first time he had heard such a suggestion. "And if the rebels _were_ Syrians angered by the taxes levied against them by our kingdom, then we will accomplish little by seeking more blood. No attack or campaign will wipe away their resentment- Let their failure stand as their discouragement."

Set said nothing in answer beyond a simple "Yes, pharaoh," but the prince swore he saw displeasure in his thick blue eyes when they shot up and their gazes met, just for a moment. There was no time for the looks to linger, though. It would not due for the priest to stare at a royal like that, and Set had to step back with Isis when she finished fastening the Tauk about her neck, both making room for the third, and final candidate to approach.

"Shada-" It was Siamun who spoke, descending from the dais as he removed the Millennium Key from his neck and presented it to the young man, still on bent knee. "I resign my position as priest with no small reluctance, but knowing you will stand in my place does much to placate my fears."

"You do me too much honor." Shada rose, taking the Item with reverent fingers and a bow of his head. "-but I shall do all I can to prove myself worthy of your trust."

It was a sad sight from where Atem stood. Oh yes, Shada would likely prove a good replacement, but it was still bittersweet to see Siamun handing over his post. He wasn't fully retiring- The elderly man would remain in his position as vizier, likely until the end of his days as Akhenamkhanen would never set aside his uncle. But Atem saw the truth behind this resignation. He remembered his father's lamentations about sending him alone to Men-Nefer, or Abdju, or any of the other places the prince went to represent the pharaoh. However successful Atem's visits may be, he did not have the benefit of a full council as Akhenamkhanen did when _he_ traveled. But, now that Siamun was not tied to the king and Waset as one of the six priests, he was free to travel wherever Akhenamkhanen wished.

The prince would stake his life on it; Siamun was abandoning the Millennium Key so he could follow Atem.

The three new priests and priestess turned to face the court, their Items openly displayed, and the gathered crowd of dignitaries and titled courtiers and favored servants cried their approval. All were relieved to see balance restored to the sacred priesthood, thr king's safety secured by their presence. The ceremony complete, there was nothing left to be done- Save for Akhenamkhanen to proclaim there would be a feast that evening in the three's honor, and announce the close of open court for the day. All bowed as the king stood - Atem included - but the prince wasn't down on one knee longer than a breath before his father's worn, bejeweled hand waved before his face, and Atem rose to follow him out of the throne room, Siamun and the six priests trailing behind them.

"Was your trip home uneventful, my son?" the king asked without preamble, moving smoothly and leisurely down a pillared hall- So slow that the much smaller prince had no trouble meeting his pace. "To reach us in so short a time… You must have ridden by horse the last stretch of the way, without any rest."

"I did," Atem admitted, instantly adding "But it was worth it to reach Waset and find you well."

His father did not reply, but his weighted features lightened softly, a smile twitching at his lips before he turned his head to speak to the priest walking just behind the prince. "Mahaad- I trust it need not be said, but keep your focus on our son so long as he is in Waset. There may yet be a second attempt by these assassins- I would have at least one priest close to his person for the time being."

"As you wish, O Pharaoh." Mahaad bent his head, as sober as he would be accepting any sacred project, be it leading a divine ceremony or guarding a royal tomb. When his charge glanced back at him, though, the magician's violet eyes warmed with clear satisfaction for his charge- A look Atem mirrored with a brief smile before his father drew his attention once more.

"Are you too worn after your travels to lead the celebration feast in our stead?"

"No, I am looking forward to it." The prince's answer was instant and firm, but he was careful to keep his gaze turned forward, lest he break the spell of casual disregard about the request. They both knew… Oh yes, they were _both_ fully aware that Atem was lying. He hated to mingle with the court as a whole. The press for his attention from all directions, the false airs and deceits behind half of what was said among the drinking and eating and laughing and dancing, the dozens if not _hundreds_ of eyes trained on him at all times- He dreaded it, and all who knew him knew it.

But he would pretend, for his father. Even if Akhenamkhanen knew… Even if they both refused to acknowledge why the king asked, and his son agreed.

His father should not endure the strain- It was growing far too much for him.

Though the king walked unassisted, held his head high, Atem could see the truth in every glance- In every step and breath. His father was fading. Not quickly, not all at once, but without a doubt. The prince had been seeing the signs for over a year. Every time he saw his father his face was a little more worn, his movements a touch heavier, his eyes a shade darker.

Some unknown burden- _Something_ was crushing him, slowly.

He _had_ to be ill. Some wasting disease perhaps, but he would not admit it. He simply took on less, let Atem or Siamun or the priests handle a new responsibility here, and make a trip for him there- Piecing away the authority of his crown bit by bit, never acknowledging a thing.

And Atem- Gods preserve him, he went along with it. What else could he do? The king ignored his questions and concern, lying and yet _not_ about wishing to empower his heir as he grew older. And however he wished to protest, the prince could not outright fight or confront the pharaoh. His respect for him ran too deep.

So… He endured.

Just like his father.

"Do not linger at the feast longer than need be, or drink too much wine," Akhenamkhanen warned, prompting a mild glance from his son that soon turned to outright confusion as the king went on. "You will need your rest. I expect you in the throne room after the dawn rituals."

"-you are calling court in the morning?" The king never held court until after midday, and if he wished to share something with Atem alone he was never so formal about it.

"Yes, we are to have a reunion-" The pharaoh stalled a step, waving behind him for the rest to hold back, at least until there was enough distance between them and the royals for father and son to speak privately. Only then did he speak again, a strange emotion passing over his face - austere, and yet pleased. "I have ordered that your brother be brought to the palace on the morrow."

Atem stumbled to a halt, paralyzed by shock as he stared at his father, who turned to meet his stunned gazed with as much expectation as confusion. "…Sawheru," the prince breathed, unsure himself if he spoke the name as a question.

"Yes." Akhenamkhanen turned and continued on, forcing Atem to recover and catch up if he wished to hear any further. "He has come of age, and I have no fear of any trouble coming from his visit- Siamun has long taught him how to mind his heart and thoughts, and there is no reason he should not rejoin our court."

Atem would not be so bold as to correct his father, but if he could, he would remind the pharaoh that he himself had decided Sawheru should not be there- That _he_ created the reason for his son's prolonged absence!

"I will expect you there for the arrival." The king stalled at the fork in the hallway where they would part for their respective chambers, turning to look critically down at his son, watching for any sign of protest.

Atem bowed with a short "As you wish, Father."

What else could he say?

* * *

"If you keep frowning like that every noble in Waset will know you're upset." Melinia underlined her words with a swat against Atem's arm, making him spill half of his wine on the floor. Naturally, this made the prince frown harder- Especially when a servant began to clear the mess, so quick to appear one might suspect she had popped out of the scene painted on the wall just at the prince's back. Impressive, but the girl's movements only drew _more_ glances from the surrounding crowd!

Atem ignored them, keeping a determined stare on the performance taking place at the center of the room. "-no one would trust it if I did smile."

"True, your distaste for festivities is well known." Melinia tossed a golden curl over her shoulder, surveying the great room. Many of the courtiers dodged her eye as she looked their way, displaying sudden interest in their food or company or the dance show. That was, without a doubt, _why_ Atem was being left be in the middle of the crowd. He was seated beside his sister, and thus everyone hesitated on what to do- Approach the august prince, or avoid the infamous lady? And while they deliberated the two royals enjoyed their privacy, Melinia's attention eventually landing on the same pair of sinewy, agile acrobats Atem watched, her gaze lingering with far more interest than his as she sipped her drink and quietly spoke. "-but everyone knows what is happening tomorrow. If you are not careful they will be whispering about your displeasure by sundown. And _that_ \- for all you know - might reach Sawheru's own ears."

Atem glowered at the very idea. Who even said he _was_ upset about the second prince's return? He was _confused_ , that was all! Confused and, concerned… But thinking about that was what left him frowning in the first place…

The servant girl moved to take the cup from the prince's hand, clearly looking to refill it. Atem granted her meek eyes and waiting hands and naked, beaded skin a quick, cursory glance before waving her back with firm, if benign "I am well, you may go."

The girl bowed wordlessly before disappearing as quickly as she had appeared. Atem waited until she was gone before shifting his gaze back to his sister, his voice dropping to a stiff murmur. "Melinia… You must know of him."

"What?" His sister lowered her drink, eyeing him quizzically until his stare prompted her to mask her expression and look off in a random direction. "What do you mean?"

"Sawheru." Atem's fingers clenched convulsively on his cup as he uttered the name. He could swear he felt eyes burning on him as he dared mention the boy, but refused to let himself quail. Refused to so much as twitch his would-be focus off of the dance. "You go to the temple regularly… You _must_ see him." For Melinia was God's Wife of Amun, the highest ranking priestess of the god's sect.

The pharaoh had granted her the exclusive royal title two years ago, time having made it clear that he could arrange no appropriate marriage for her - a plight the lady put down to her manner, though all knew it was her foreign look and blood the nobility avoided. So Akhenamkhanen offered her office and priestly wealth in place of a husband. Melinia spent much of her time on the estate the position came with - coming only erratically to court - but to keep the position she had to perform rituals on special occasions or festival days. And to do that, she needed to go to the Temple of Amun at Karnak.

 _Karnak_. Where Sawheru lived.

Where he had been sent _eight years ago_ -

No one had _called_ it exile. For all formal purposes, the move was a boon for the young boy. His involvement in the attack of the dark dragon had been successfully hushed, and his departure from the palace three days after was a natural, if rushed rite of passage. The second prince had always been fated for _some_ great office, be it one of the six priests at the pharaoh's side, or a trusted, influential vizier, or a high priest of a great temple- But whatever it would be, it would be _something_. How could the pharaoh's only spare son be left powerless?

The king had simply decided which position it would be.

The current High Priest of Amun was childless with no relations to inherit his powerful station, and Akhenamkhanen had grabbed the chance to tie the Great Temple of Karnak to the crown itself. The king relinquished his own son to the Cult of Amun, to meld into their future leader as they saw fit. And who could say Sawheru was too young to go, when so many scribes and priests were given to the temple at a far more tender age? The priesthood was a lifelong career, and his education needed to begin as soon as possible.

Atem knew the truth, though. He had seen- No, in part _caused_ the incident at the Shrine of Wedju, and where many had whispered their suspicions as the small prince was packed off and escorted the short distance to Karnak, Atem had stood on a high balcony and watched Sawheru's procession fade away with full awareness and a heavy heart.

He hadn't even said goodbye…

But that was his own fault, as much as his failure to seek out his brother since. Oh, there would be protests or evasions if he formally requested a visit to the temple, and his father had never given him permission to go, and yes- Even the heir was not openly welcome in that sacred place. Only a priest, priestess, or the Pharaoh could enter the sanctum- And only _then_ for the sake of festival or ritual.

But Atem _could_ have easily pressed his way in- Could have _tried_. No… It was shame that kept him away all those years, not precedent.

"Yes, I see him-" Melinia acknowledged, but a glower played at her painted lips as she explained, swirling her wine with sharp, irritated flicks of the wrist. "But I don't spend time with him. Karnak is a world unto itself, my 'divine brother'. There are always _far_ too many people around- Guards, priests, workers, _spies_ no doubt. I can never get a private word with the boy. And I can't visit Sawheru in his own rooms when I am there formally. I go through the Temple of Amun, while _he_ is housed near the Temple of Mut- Where the school is. He's rarely anywhere near the Precinct of Amun, much less when I am about." She gave a hard sniff and waved over another servant, handing her her glass with a disgusted dismissal of the thing- Masking her frustration in a voiced distaste for the vintage. As the girl ran off to find Melinia something 'better suited' the lady added "It will be good to have him back- Here with us…" on a quiet murmur.

Atem did not answer, nursing his disappointment in silence. It felt silly to ask then, when she was unlikely to have an answer, but still the prince found himself stumbling through the words. "When you _do_ see him… Does he seem, happy?" He could feel her eyes turn on him, but he refused to look, embarrassment spicing his desperation for an answer.

"…yes, I think so…" Atem swerved his gaze at the words - the strange mix of hesitation and secure opinion he heard there - and took in his elder sister's expression. She looked at him still, but did not seem to see him, focused on some unseen image… Until she blinked with a dismissive, even defensive wave. "Far better than when I saw him _here_ last, at least."

He- didn't react, really. He was sure he did not actually flinch or anything. But Atem had not pinned his eyes back on the dancers more than two seconds before Melinia smacked his arm again with a scoffing snort. "Oh, don't start brooding again. He is _fine_ \- And he would have wound up in Karnak at some point. Punishing yourself isn't going to help him now-"

Melinia's diatribe, earned as it might have been, was interrupted by the quiet call of "My lady" at her elbow. A glower pulled at his sister's lips, only to ebb when she turned and found it was her own handmaiden - a young lady of long, dark hair named Shukura - seeking her attention. The girl bent to whisper something in Melinia's ear, looking pointedly off in the direction of a distant circle of nobles. Atem didn't see anything of note about them, beyond the way one man in particular kept swerving his gaze their way, but his sister gave a quiet, understanding " _Ah_ " before rising. "Lord Paser-" she said, turning to Atem with sparkling eyes. "He owns a good deal of farmland near Abdju."

 _Ah_ indeed. Atem gave a silent snort, but he couldn't help but smirk. "And what do you plan to do when you win it from him? Take up sheep farming?" Melinia let off a laugh, a nearby lady dropping her cup at the sudden noise. Atem merely watched, lips silently curled up as he marveled at how they could play so lightly on the subject. Not long ago, Melinia's gambling had been a source of _tension_ between the siblings. Not that the prince disapproved of a game of dice- He played nearly as much as she did. And if his sister wished to risk heavy portions of her estate in the process, that was her choice. But they rarely played together, and it was complete happenstance that he saw a certain game last year. Melinia versus a visiting ambassador, a guest of the pharaoh.

She had been playing with loaded dice.

Naturally, when he realized this, the prince insisted on playing in the ambassador's stead, taunted his sister into betting more than half of her wealth, _won_ despite the cheating- And then privately told her that if she did not wish him to reveal her secret, she would never do such a thing _again_.

Melinia had, of course, been incensed - especially when Atem didn't even _keep_ his won fortune but gave it to the ambassador as a sign of good will between countries - but, that storm had long passed. In recent months, she seemed to have forgotten her resentment- A shift the prince had put down to Melinia's regained wealth as God's Wife of Amun, until she admitted over a particularly rowdy feast that she found the games so much more _fun_ since she truly ran the risk of loss- The sheer excitement of it!

And since Melinia was never too quick to risk _that_ much in the games anymore, Atem watched her approach her newest target with little concern. In fact, he was a little tempted to _follow-_ He trusted his sister to keep her word, but watching a round of dice sounded infinitely preferable to lingering at the feast, now that he had gone through the motions of welcoming everyone and greeting his father's favorites and closest allies.

But as a figure crossed his line of sight, the prince realized he had missed one _very_ critical guest of honor.

Set.

Apparently he was not the only one to notice, either. The priest's blue eyes skimmed Atem's reds, clearly assessing whether he should approach or not. When the royal gave no sign of dismissal, the priest crossed the rest of the room to bow before his seat. "My prince."

"Priest Set-" Atem gestured with his free hand for the man to rise- And then moved to his own feet. He would soon crack his neck staring up at the man from his chair. "Congratulations on your rise to priesthood."

"Thank you, your highness." Set bowed his head the slightest bit, but with the formal bow done, he showed little but the most passing of respects. The prince did not mind- The ones required for the pharaoh's _son_ were few, and he was not one to stand on station. Better to strive for some measure of familiarity with the man. Set _would_ be a constant hovering presence in his life now, as so many others were.

"-I heard it was Akhenaden who suggested you should join the royal priesthood," Atem managed after a rough, long moment of hunting for a proper comment, settling into his found remark with almost relieved ease. "How do you know him?"

"I do not, your highness," the newly minted priest answered, letting the silence hang _just_ long enough for Atem to openly narrow his eyes in question before explaining himself. "Not personally- Priest Akhenaden has always watched the disciples of Karnak for potential promise. I simply caught his eye."

-were the gods taunting him? It was impossible to say, but the prince certainly wondered as much as his breath caught in his throat at the mention on the temple. "Karnak… You were a student there?"

"Yes-" Set's gaze shifted, just for a breath, but it was enough for Atem to notice the man's attention veering elsewhere, towards- Mahaad?

Indeed, when the prince turned his head in the same direction he saw that Set _was_ looking at the Ring Priest, for Mahaad had settled himself in the shadow of a nearby pillar some time ago, watching over his royal charge but granting the space needed to greet his guests and speak to his sister in relative privacy. Mahaad _must_ have noticed their glances - he had been watching Atem the whole time, a silent, familiar eye upon his back - but his thoughts remained masked beneath a sedate, attentive expression, and the prince had no time to peer beneath it before Set spoke again, as though he had never looked away. "Though I have not sat in a classroom for many years- I instructed in scriptures and arithmetic for a time, but my great charge has long been the security of the temple itself- From within during my monthly shifts, and without when I was not on formal duty."

"A great responsibility," the prince murmured, meeting the priest's sapphire stare look for unbending look. He could easily believe the claim, too, after that afternoon. Set must have spent years punishing criminals - any who dared disrespect the temple and its laws. Wouldn't such a man be eager to proclaim war on a country that dared raise a hand against his king?

But… It _was_ curious that Set ever had such authority. He could not be much older than Atem himself, and the priest had no known family connections to rush his promotion to power. Was he simply that capable, or had he earned support from some unknown, influential corner? The prince might well have probed the matter… Had he not his own questions to ask- Ones that made him stare coolly down into his wine rather than let Set read his emotions as he said, "I will keep your experience in mind… But I have a question for you, priest. While in Karnak- Did you know my brother?"

Atem could sense the weight in Set's silence even before it coaxed his gaze back to the man, the disgruntled reluctance on his face and in his short "Yes, my prince," more telling than any open words.

Still, Atem's expression hardened, his warm reds narrowing critically on Set's flat countenance before he gave a sharp, prompting gesture. "Pray, tell me- What do you make of him? I would have the truth."

It was long in coming, though, the silence dragging on as Set searched the prince's face, judging what he should say- Not out of tact or compassion, clearly, but out of concern of how the young royal may react. Atem stared back, as unbending as he, until the priest threw caution to the wind and spoke- Unhesitating. Blunt. _Harsh_. "I do not know Prince Sawheru well, but I judge him to be intelligent- A great blessing that he lets go to waste."

A shift of movement out of the corner of his eye warned the prince that Mahaad was moving- Looking to intervene. Atem halted him with a hand without turning to look, schooling his own expression into stony stillness. Whatever the impertinence, however it rankled, he _had_ asked for the truth. And, reluctant as he may be to accept it, how could he judge if it were deserved?

"-he would skip or sleep through one out of every three lessons we shared," the priest continued after the first hiccup of uncertainty, quietly rolling on as though he were not speaking to the boy's own royal brother. "-or that I taught. His mind was rarely in the classroom, and if he was not there, he had likely slipped out of the temple entirely," Set guessed dryly, completely unaware of the alarm he set off in Atem's heart. "And I doubt he has changed since. A moon ago, on the day before I left the temple, I spotted him with a small crowd - most of them lowly temple staff. They were playing some game, racing along the edge of the sacred lake at the Temple of Mut, the prince carried upon the shoulders of a guard, hollering loud enough to draw my notice from across the courtyard."

Atem- He did not speak, but his stony expression cracked beneath the image Set painted. His concern for his brother wandering unguarded outside the security of Karnak was nothing next to _that_ idea- The image of Sawheru, playing in the daylight with… Friends?

The small boy he remembered _cried_ at the very _idea_ of friends…

And if he had them, then Melinia must be right. He _was_ happy there… And Father was planning to take him away from that… Drag him from the temple, for what?

For _this_?

Atem looked about the loud, crowded hall with a ponderous eye as Set said "To be clear, the prince may have come of age this year, but he acts more like a child than a man" with a note of finality, and concern. For all knew that Sawheru was to return the next morning- And by the priest's clear opinion, he was not ready for whatever responsibility the pharaoh clearly meant to give him.

But if he expected anger on his brother's behalf, or open agreement, the man was to be disappointed. Atem barely acknowledged the end of his denunciation, his eyes slow to unglaze, blink, and focus on the priest who had begun to frown at his silence. Before he could decide to actually _question_ him, the prince gave a quick, distracted nod and wave of the hand. "…thank you, Priest Set. Do not let me keep you- This banquet is yours."

"-as you say." The priest bowed, never taking his sharp, studying eyes off of the prince. He clearly wanted to ask something, but for all his candor, even Set would not ignore a direct order. He stepped away after no more than a pause, approaching a distant circle made up of his fellow newly appointed priests and a few nobles.

Atem let his own gaze slide back to the dance, watching as the men moved in sync with a pair of ladies who joined the fray for a routine of complex acrobatic moves, timed to music wafting from nearby harps and flutes. He watched, but he did not truly see, the light catching on their exposed skin making him blink- The bodies little more than a blur of movement as he watched… And suddenly moved, too restless to remain still.

As a round of applause rose for the latest flip or twirl, the prince slid out a nearby doorway and onto the outer balcony that ran along the palace's northern wall. There were courtiers there, too, but they milled about in little groups and pairs, seeking a quiet word, and the few who noticed him were discouraged from approaching with no more than a passing wave. He needed privacy. He needed to _think_ \- To… To _look_ at the place. For there- Across the rooftops of the closest buildings, beyond the pylons and obelisks- There it was, a massive, rolling expanse of stone in the distance, just downriver from Waset, lit by a thousand little lights that blended together to blink in the starlight.

Karnak, little more than a stone's throw away.

If what Set was true… Would Sawheru thank them for removing him from the place? It was never his choice to go to the Karnak, but that did not mean he would chose to leave it now. And what did Father mean to do with him once he was back? Would the prince simply continue his rise to priesthood from within the palace? Had the pharaoh changed his mind _entirely_ about the prince's future?

It was impossible to say, but Atem knew _some_ things for sure. His father must think he was helping, and he would reveal whatever he had planned on the morrow, in front of _everyone_ , and Sawheru… He would likely go along with it, whatever he wished. Who could deny the divinity of the pharaoh, the will of a father, and the pressure of the court?

He had been too long away. How could Sawheru possibly know that it was safe to say no?

"…my prince?" Atem didn't turn, feeling no shock as Mahaad materialized behind him, uncertainty and concern coating his words. "Will you return to the feast?"

"-no." Atem raised his glass and downed what little wine remained in one long gulp, swallowing it down with a deep, deciding breath. "I will go to my chambers and change. Do the same, Mahaad - no finery - and meet me in the stables." Setting the cup on the stone ledge, he turned, staring into the priest's baffled eyes with steady, frowning conviction.

He knew what he had to do.

"We are going to see my brother."

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Senet_ – Ancient board game, often compared to backgammon. Seemed to have religious significance.  
_Mehen_ – 'The game of the snake'. A board game carved in the shape of a snake, won by skill rather than luck.

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – ?


	30. Chapter 30

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" _ **One's moral qualities are measured by one's deeds**_ _ **.**_ "  
_~ Proverb etched on the walls of Karnak Temple_

"I forgot that you even had a brother!"

"Mana-" Mahaad narrowed his eyes on the girl's sunny head, but he couldn't properly leer at his student while she faced forward, riding before him on his horse.

He tried to make up for the failing by speaking in a hard, warning tone, but the girl rolled right on, breezy in her confidence. "Well, I _did_ \- I have never seen this other prince before, and his highness has never bothered to visit him- At least that I know of-"

"Enough, I did not allow you come along so that you could-"

"It is alright, Mahaad," Atem cut in before the priest could threaten to actually send the girl back. His intervention prompted a grateful grin from Mana, but her master shot him a blank, contained stare- The sort of look Mahaad always gave in place of the lecture he would not dare give the prince himself.

Atem answered the look with a passing wave, holding his reins in his other hand as the trio rode on down the stone avenue of sphinxes, their white steeds following the path that led from the city to the temple just down river. There were few on the road at that hour, most preferring their dinner or bed to the dangers of the night air, but still the prince felt some deep-seated impulse to keep his voice soft, mumbling "She is not wrong, after all" so quietly that the two would have surely missed his words, had the night not been so silent.

"Then why are we going to visit him now, your highness? You will see him in the morning-" Mana cut off her own question, green eyes going wide with a sudden, exciting thought. "Is it a surprise? Are you bringing him a gift? Something he needs before the meeting?"

As she craned her head back to squint through the shadows at Atem and his horse, nearly knocking Mahaad off-balance with the move, the prince could not help but smile. Few spoke so openly before him, much less _to_ him, but Mana had always been a refreshing anomaly. She was... Not overly _exuberant_ exactly, but unrestrained in her feelings and thoughts- A unique quirk in the prince's world. But then, she wasn't of the court in any sense, beyond her connection to _them_. She was only on this trip because she had come looking for her delayed master and caught them in the stables, and Mahaad was only her master in the _first place_ due to a whim of the gods, prompting the three to cross paths on the shores of Yebu four years ago-

_"What is that?"_ _Atem asked, looking up at the same time as Mahaad. The carved figure of a lion still hung in the prince's fingers, for the two had taken up a game of Mehen after finishing their studies_ _\- The better to pass the time until the king and priests returned from their meeting with the priests of Khnum. The day was cool enough for them to play up on the uncovered deck as the royal barge rounded the island off Swenett in lazy circles, but the position also gave them a perfect view of the boat, and there was no one left aboard- No one save the two of them, and a few sentries standing about with confused, but mute expressions. And the river itself was empty of any nearby vessels, while the surrounding rocks, shrubs and trees blocked most of the land from view._

_So where was that crying coming from?_

_The young prince stared out across the waters… Until finally stood out upon a nearby shore. He jolted up at the sight so fast that he knocked the small finely carved game table over on its side. Lion pieces clattered across the wood as glass marbles of blue and green and red rolled away. A few fell overboard and disappeared into the river, but no one stopped them- No one_ _could_ _rightfully mind them when someone was wailing like that, and as Atem reached the edge of the boat he recognized the source for what it was- A thin little girl, hair long and golden and matted and covering her face as she knelt in the mud and sobbed her eyes out._

_"What is it?!" he cried, making the young man at his side and the girl in the distance both jump at the sudden sound. "What ails you?!"_

_He couldn't make out the girl's face, but she was certainly looking at him, and_ _trying_ _to say something- Only to choke on a barely audible cry._

_"My prince-" Mahaad started, an uncertain warning on his lips. He must have been worried it was some trap, an attempt to lure the young heir out to swipe him while his royal father and most of the guards were away. But Atem ignored the possibility, motioning for the crew to take the boat closer to the shore. Once they were close enough for a proper view, he saw that the child was not just thin, but skin and bones, her hair a rat's nest and face a scuffed up, dirty mess. The sight would have filled the prince with pity, had her bright, expressive eyes not caught his curiosity. It was rare to see anyone so downtrodden exhibit such clear, vibrant signs of life-_

_"M-My amulet-" the girl sniffed, words quivering with as much shock as emotion. She must have realized she was speaking to someone of some importance, given the splendor of the barge and his own attire, but if she recognized him to a name, she did not say so. She simply rubbed her nose against her arm and pointed out across the waters. "I can't reach it!"_

_Turning, Atem scanned the river and found the named item, a dash of turquoise among a small scattering of rocks glinting bright and wet in the sunlight. It was- Even from that distance he could tell it must be small, no more than a simple pendant. He looked questioningly up at Mahaad, baffled that the loss of such a thing could make anyone so heartbroken._

_Mahaad looked quite exasperated himself, but there was something hesitant and heavy in his expression when he locked eyes with his prince, murmuring "It is likely the most valuable thing the girl owns, your highness."_

_...that was likely so. Then, of course she would be upset._

_And yet, when he turned back to the shore and cried out "Do not worry, I will replace it for you!" the girl actually shook her head!_

_"No!" The cry was nearly as loud as her earlier wails, and twice as sharp, and the prince actually started at the tone, blinking in stunned silence as the child fixed him with a glower as adamant as it was imploring. "That is my mother's amulet! It is all I have of her- I need_ that _one back!"_

_-well. He couldn't exactly argue with that, could he? Or at least he couldn't find the words to do so, and rather than search for them he turned to stare thoughtfully at the necklace that was bouncing lightly in the current, the cord threatening to break loose at any moment. It wouldn't be safe to send a_ person _after it, but..._

_"Mahaad- Could your magus reach that?" Atem asked, prompting the young magician to stare at him in disbelief. To summon his heart's spirit in front of someone- To fetch a necklace?_

_When Mahaad hesitated, Atem raised his own hand, ready to summon a spirit of his own. He had_ one _that could possibly get the amulet, even if its hands were small and stubby-_

_"Your highness, wait-" a hand larger than his own came up, softly stalling the prince before moving higher in a matching gesture. A breath later a small, dark figure appeared in the air at Mahaad's fingertips, its face nothing but a shadow. It rushed across the waters and Atem glanced curiously to the shore, checking the girl's reaction and finding she had none- At least not until the little magus picked up the amulet. Then she gasped and fell back into the mud, eyes wide with shock and wonder._

_It was no surprise. To her, it likely looked like her necklace was floating through the air of its own volition._

_Some minutes later, the guards had managed to fetch the girl from the shore and bring her to the boat. She stood there before them, mute and shivering until Mahaad handed her the retrieved amulet - a pendant in the shape of the Eye of Horus. She stared at it for one, long moment, and where Atem expected confusion or teary-eyed relief, the girl burst with delight. "That was amazing! You can do magic?! How- Could_ I _do that, too?!"_

_Shock silenced them once more, but when Atem swiveled his glance from the girl's blistering reverence to Mahaad's stupefied, frozen face, he had to laugh._

It had been nothing but a lark at the time, really. Atem had assumed the request was nothing but the blush of fresh awe, and Mana would move on to gratitude and farewells long before his father returned. Even if she _did_ truly want lessons of some sort, and Mahaad actually agreed, it probably wouldn't go anywhere. Not if she couldn't even see a spirit.

The prince had grossly underestimated her.

The amulet had disappeared long ago, lost to some magical experiment that had gone awry, but the girl remained.

"-you didn't bring anything with you," Mana commented, sounding almost suspicious as her frown turned from the bare sides of Atem's horse to the prince himself. He merely shook his head in answer.

"No, I just want to speak with him. I don't need to bring anything for that."

"You do need a plan though, your highness," Mahaad warned, frowning at the scattered lights that marked the temple just in the distance. "Your father will surely catch word of this if you are seen, and there is no telling how the priestly staff will react to an unannounced royal visitor."

"Do not worry, I know what I will do," Atem reassured... Ignoring the glance his priest silently shot him.

Chances were that Mahaad had guessed his plan of action already. And indeed, as they tied their horses to a nearby sphinx' paw and rounded the mud-brick wall on foot, the priest merely frowned and watched in silence as Atem summoned the same _Ka_ he had meant to call the day they met Mana. The little creature listened to the prince's whispered instructions, gathered up an armful of small rocks from the dust at the side of the road, and disappeared through the entrance of the nearby pylon. Moving cautiously closer, the prince and his tiny entourage waited... And were soon rewarded with distant, anxious calls.

"What was that?!"

"I do not know- Did you see anything?!"

"No, it- It came from over there! This way!"

Mana bubbled over with a quiet " _Tee hee_ " but managed to stifle it with her hand, failing to give them away. Even if the guards were running off, chasing rocks dropped by a creature they could not see, the slightest sound might draw them back.

As such, Mahaad did not speak until they were safely through the gate with no one in sight.

"I am concerned, your highness," the man breathed. "That a tale of floating rocks will be as telling to your father as an actual sighting."

"Maybe," Atem allowed, too caught by the sights before him to say much more than "It got us in, at least..." Got them into the Precinct of Mut, to be precise. The entire enclosed area was nothing but a satellite of the Great Temple of Amun and _its_ precinct, located further to the north. But the temple that loomed just before them, dedicated to the mother goddess, was impressive in its own right, and the enclosure around it could have easily contained the royal palace in its entirety.

It was world unto itself- And Sawheru was somewhere within it.

"Stay behind me- Wait until I have moved before following," the prince breathed as his eyes fell on a cluster of houses off to the right, cushioned between the high wall and a mass of store houses.

"But your highness-" Mahaad hissed, frowning at him in vexed concern. "If you get caught alone-"

"They will do nothing but stall me." Even if he walked into the heart of the temple - the sacred shrine of the goddess Mut herself - the priests would know better than to harm _him_ in their efforts to stay his trespassing. No, his only worry was being _foiled_. "Just keep a safe distance, and use your magus to mislead any guards that come up behind us."

"…very well, as you order."

The prince moved before Mahaad could have a chance to change his mind, waving back to acknowledge Mana's quiet "Be careful, your highness!" as he slid through the shadows.

The path grew more populated as he neared the residential lodgings - servants and students and low-ranked priests returning from a late night's work, presumably - but Atem looked at none of them, and none of them looked to stop him. Why would they, when his white cloak and hood covered his telling hair? When he had discarded the sheer, gauzy robes and gold and heavy turquoise collar he had worn for the feast, in favor of simple linen? He looked no different than the rest of them, and no one there was paid to be suspicious of a new face.

But still, as he wandered down the maze-like streets that connected the houses, the prince's steps began to slow, near treading as he waited for all currently on the street to wander away and give him a chance to pull back his hood enough to look around properly. The houses... They were all small, but sturdy affairs of white limestone plaster. All _completely identical_. Sawheru had to be in one of them - his sister had told him that much in passing, that he lived as an equal with the rest of the temple priests and staff - but which home was his?

It had been the weakest part of his plan from the start, not knowing where exactly to look. He had hoped some solution would occur to him as he went, long before his friends caught up and recognized his hesitation for what it was. Perhaps he would find some indication of a royal resident- A larger abode or a better garden or... He did not know.

But no solution had presented itself to him by the time he heard footsteps coming up behind him and-

"There you are!"

Atem choked as a pair of strong, bare arms wrapped around his chest and lifted him clear into the air! He couldn't even protest- The vice-like grip held his arms to his sides, and he couldn't catch his breath enough to speak! All he could do was tense, mind a blank slate of shock as the perpetrator _lectured_ him!

"What took you so long?! Hondo's been hiding in the stables for an hour now! He is going to get us both if we don't-"

Atem sputtered out something like a word and his captor slid into an uncertain silence, his grip loosening just enough that the prince could throw back his shoulder and look behind him. Indignant reds met flabbergasted browns, and the stranger dropped him- So suddenly that Atem fell to the sands in a heap of white cloth.

"...you're not-" the man started, only to give a cry of his own. As the prince sat up, rubbing rough grains off of his face, he saw his attacker - a tall, dark-haired bare-chested man in the shendyt of a guard - turn about and come face-to-face with Mahaad's spirit. Before Atem could judge if the man even _saw_ it, the priest and his apprentice came bounding up the road.

"What are you doing to his highness?!" Mana cried, continuing to rush forward even when her master thought to stop.

"-his _highness_?!" the stranger repeated, jolting about to gape at the fallen prince. Atem was trying to stand, but the man reached out and grabbed him by the arm, yanking him to his feet. The royal would have certainly fallen _again_ from the rush, but the man kept a tight grip on him as he leaned down, staring at the prince with the oddest mix of disbelief and understanding and dread.

"Then that means you _are_ \- _Gah_!" He tripped forward, nearly smacking Atem in the nose as he stumbled beneath the added weight of _Mana on his back_! "-get off!"

"Let go of him!" The girl demanded, looking ready to bite the man's ear off in her wrath- But she got her way at least, as the stranger released Atem in his effort to claw his own attacker off of him.

"Mana!" Mahaad cried, voice cracking with too much shock to truly cut, and before the prince could find his own words- Or really do anything beyond stare in shock for Mana's unexpected rescue-

"What are you doing?!" cried a _new_ voice. A second guard with close-cut hair and wild bangs came running up the street, heading straight for the wrestling pair.

Mahaad moved to bar his way with a hand and a frown. "Peace, sir. We mean only to-" Only he didn't get any farther than that before the new arrival slugged him right in the gut, the priest letting out a surprise gag as he keeled over.

"Mahaad!" Atem was moving in a moment, mind too hot with rage to note how the new stranger's movements stuttered as he looked up and caught sight of the prince. There was confusion in his gaze, but what did that matter? He had attacked Mahaad! Atem raised his hand, and suddenly a gigantic soldier in red-lined indigo armor appeared, lowering its great bejeweled sword right in Mahaad's attacker's face. The man stopped short- A line of red running down his neck from where the blade just skimmed his skin. The grazing impact made his eyes widen with horror and Atem felt grim relief. Hopefully he would not have to back the threat he was about to make.

"Step away, or I will-"

"What- _What is going on_?!"

The sharp cry cut through the standoff, forcing the prince to stall. He sought the source without moving, gaze sliding to the side with a cursory, impatient glance. But then he caught sight of a young lady, wide blue eyes brimming with alarm and rage, layers of sheer and opaque white fabric wrapped about her and catching in the wind… And the woman, whoever she was, was not alone.

There, standing in her shadow-

Atem's fury blurred into nothing as he locked eyes on Sawheru.

There was no mistaking him, not when his hair stood out as a near-perfect mirror of his own. And- And since he was staring _right at him_ -

He could feel the eyes of everyone else swerving on him- On _them_. Their shock and understanding and tension was palpable, but Atem did not look, his gaze caught on his unexpectedly found quarry. His mind was numb, incapable of processing anything beyond _it was him_! And as the shadow stepped forward, the lights of a nearby window catching on his form- Atem's mind cracked with wonder.

The tiny boy who had cried in their mother's garden, who had saved his life with a tiny cooing spirit was gone, replaced by a slight young man drowning in a pristine white tunic and shendyt, hemmed and belted with some deep color the prince couldn't make out in the shadows of the street. The transformation was almost too much to bear, but Atem… He knew those hesitant, careful steps- The wide eyes that shone violet as they caught the light filtering out of a nearby home. They stared at him, openly struggling to take _him_ in in turn.

"…brother?" The call was little more than a whisper, so breathless Atem might well have missed it, had he not been staring at the boy the whole time and seen his mouth form the word.

The hand that had been a breath away from ordering an attack fell, limp and weightless, the great swordsman fading away as its caller's focus fixed on managing two, short words.

"Hello, Sawheru."

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Mehen_ – The modern version of the snake game was played with lion pieces and marbles as dice.  
_Yebu_ \- Ancient name for Elephantine, the island near Aswan, a base of trade  
_Shendyt_ \- A kilt-like garment worn by Egyptians of all stations. Come in many styles.

**Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – ?  
_?_ – Jounouchi  
_?_ – Honda  
_?_ – Anzu

**Summoners & Spirits Seen**  
_Atem_ \- ?, Buster Blader  
_Mahaad_ \- Magus of Illusion [Ka]


	31. Chapter 31

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" _ **Listen with kindness for a clear explanation.**_ "  
_~ The Maxims of Ptahhotep_

Anything the brothers or anyone else might have said died before it was spoken, interrupted by the sound of footsteps and a door- No, _multiple_ doors cracking open.

Sawheru visibly started and looked about while Atem blinked back into awareness of what was going on- Mana helping Mahaad stand. The priest's attacker staring dumbstruck at the lot of them. The girl at Sawheru's side looking sharply from one prince to the other, and then to the man who had grabbed Atem a moment ago, who only shook his head in answer…

The shadowed figures peeking out from the surrounding houses.

"-this way," Sawheru said, giving one last anxious look about before turning and walking back the way he had come. The suddenness of the departure took the prince aback, but the sight of the woman and two guards following the boy prompted his own feet to move. He stalled just long enough to be sure of Mahaad's health, then led his own friends on, wordlessly trailing his brother and his party into the night.

It wasn't hard to guess where Sawheru was going, and within a half minute he slowed before one of the identical flat-roofed structures- The last on the street before the path opened up and trailed off towards the crescent-shaped sacred lake, hovering just off in the distance. A prime location- The only nod to its owner's station that Atem could make out. The building was like every other around it, and as they approached it the prince himself opened his front door and waved them in.

No one followed them, but there was still a hovering sense of urgency as they made their quick and quiet entrance. That was the only reason Atem did not stall as he passed through the door and locked eyes with Sawheru upon the threshold. His uncertainty gazed back at him, wordless but clear… Until he moved on, entering the building.

"I don't think anyone got a good look at us," the girl in white said as she peered out of a small, high window beside the door- Only to start when one of the guards managed to light a lamp and she discovered the prince standing there, just beside her. The yellow beads strung in her brown locks clinked as she lowered her head in a rushed bow. The guard with the sharp brows and quick fist looked up at the sound, and nearly dropped the lamp as he rushed to step out of Atem's way.

The prince ignored them, stepping fully into the house and looking about as the light brought it into flickering view. The space was small, multi-functional. Low table and stools of hardy, unpainted wood stood in the center, while a small shrine to the gods took pride of place against one whitewashed wall. Opposite sat a row of storage chests, leaving just enough space in the corner for a simple bed, likely belonging to a servant of some sort.

Atem was staring at the items on the table - a haphazard pile of papyrus scrolls, a small storage box of good, dark wood, and a bowl holding an array of polished clay marbles - when his brother made his way into the room and spoke.

"-make yourselves at home." The boy waved towards the table, addressing the room at large with the gesture. But all looked to Atem, wary to moved before he did. So the prince claimed the low seat at the head of the table, shifting his cloak so that it would not catch beneath him, leaving it to pool behind him and brush its white hem upon the tiles. The royal 'guest' thus settled, the rest followed suit. The two guardsmen remained standing, hovering near the door, but Mahaad and Mana filled the spots on either side of Atem, while the unnamed lady and Sawheru sat just opposite.

There was a short, expectant hush, and then the unknown lady spoke up, prompting Atem blink his attention off Sawheru and his downcast eyes "-are, are you _really_ him?" she asked, looking between the two royals with slow, awestruck consideration. "The _prince_?"

She was speaking more out of wonder than doubt, that was clear. And it was easy enough to grant her a nod and short "I am" in answer, but Atem could not help but wave pointedly to the boy sitting silent at her side. "But then, so is he." And that was what was strange. They clearly understood the significance of a prince's station, given how they behaved upon recognizing _him_. And yet, Sawheru moved among them like a peer, was treated as one, and made no move to claim any supremacy.

Even _then_ , the younger royal did not acknowledge his called-out station, giving no response to Atem's comment. Where the lady looked taken aback, even self-conscious, Sawheru kept his lips shut, taking only short, uncertain glances up at his guest.

The wariness Atem read there- It pricked at his nerves like a finger playing at a harp string.

"I-"

The prince's gaze rose to the face of the closest guards, only to watch him shut his mouth and swallow hard, lips twisting with some stifled comment.

"What is it?" Atem asked, arching his brows and staring at the guard until the same attention that had shushed the man prompted him to speak.

"Forgive me, your highness," he blurted out, his gaze turning on the seated priest. "But I must apologize to you and…"

"Mahaad," Atem's friend supplied when the man grappled for a name, watching the nervous guard with a vague, judicious eye. "I am a priest of the pharaoh, and guardian to the prince."

"Yes-" The guard tried to smile for the provided answer. It came out off as a grimace, dread dancing in his dark eyes for the revelation of _who_ exactly he was speaking to. Who he had attacked. "I swear, I would never have hit you if I had known- I thought his highness was Sawheru, and that you and the girl-"

"Mana," the magician-in-training cut in, glowering up at the man hovering just behind her. He, in turn, blinked down at her, sharing an awkward stare down until he hesitantly went on.

"Yes, Mana… I thought that you two were attacking Kasiya and the prince. Trying to abduct them, or…" He trailed off, flushing slightly as he glared at his own feet. The idea must have seemed ludicrous, now that he had time to consider it.

Still, when Atem considered the scene from an outsider's view? A girl the guard did not know literally jumping on the back of his friend - Kasiya, it would seem - and a stranger stopping the guard from helping him?

"…If Mahaad will excuse your attack," the prince said, cutting into the hushed tension with a decided tone. "I will ignore it."

"Of course, my prince," Mahaad answered in an instant, expression never shifting or wavering, even when his forgiven attacker's eyes went wide beneath their sharp brows.

Atem nodded, considering the subject closed… Though he did slide his own crimson eyes towards the guard, making him jolt out of his shock and right into a slack-jawed stupor when _his_ spoke. "And I must ask for your forgiveness. It was rash for me to call a spirit." Rash, and foolish. It was honestly the only means he had to fight, but still- To have brought a spirit out in the open of a street like that… True, most likely could not see it, but its impact was more than undeniable, proven by the dried blood on the guard's throat.

"-think nothing of it, your highness," the man breathed, a boggled smile playing at his lips as relief flowed openly across his face… And the prince's own eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He had not been confused by the mention of a spirit?

Before he could decide if relief had blinded the guard, or if he should check if any other was confused by the mention-

"O-on that-" Kasiya gave an audible gulp, frowning to try and cover his dread as he looked to Atem. "The whole, picking you up thing-"

Ah.

Atem gestured dismissively, a touch of irritation invading the gesture. "A simple mistake. If you had known I was coming, you would not have made it." Though, the very idea that Kasiya felt free to pick _Sawheru_ up like that-

"Why _have_ you come?"

Atem's musings fell to pieces, smashed beneath the shock of Sawheru finally _speaking_ , his eyes darting up to pierce his own. For a single breath, Atem felt that sensation in his chest- The one that had plagued and frightened him as a child. But it was a minimal, distant thing, and he chose to ignore it. It would seem Sawheru did the same, if he felt it at all, as the spark of awareness did not touch his violet eyes or the confusion there- The hopeful, fearful disquiet. "It is forbidden, even for you… Has something happened?"

Atem tried to speak, but the air in his mouth felt too heavy to dare lift his tongue. He tried to swallow it back, and gather his thoughts. It shouldn't be difficult. He _knew_ why he was there, what he needed to ask. And yet when he tried, with Sawheru looking at him like that, that age old sensation swelling in his chest? With everyone _staring_ at him-

"-I would have a moment alone with my brother," he finally managed, nearly overwhelmed by relief that he managed to keep his gaze steady, his voice even.

"Of course." Mahaad rose even as he spoke, and though Atem couldn't tear his gaze off of the silent turmoil of his brother's gaze, he could sense Mana belatedly follow suit. The prince was only freed when Sawheru looked up at a hand that touched his arm to lock eyes with the as-of-yet unnamed brunette. She was frowning at him in obvious, warm concern, and Sawheru's expression softened into a smile so fast it had to be a convincing fake, offering her a nod and stare until she was reassured enough to step away.

Yet another mystery to add to the pile, but that was little in the face of the one presented by the unnamed guard, whispering "What should I do about the horses?" as they left the room.

The hissed "Leave them-" from Kasiya only encouraged Atem to eye them, then Sawheru as the younger stared after the two.

They hadn't been alone for more than a heartbeat before Sawheru's lips twitched- Up, down, up- "We were going to a feast at a nearby noble's villa," he explained, forcing his smile to widen sharply before he finally gave up trying to meet Atem's steady, searching stare, favoring the bowl of marbles between them. "We go out sometimes, to places where no one who should recognize me, and I can just keep my head covered. Azizi was going to get us in, since… Azizi is the girl who was with me-" He interrupted himself to explain, his anxious open cheer dwindling into a calm variation as his eyes flicked up every now and then, checking to see if Atem were still listening. Still staring at him in that same, relentless manner. "She's a priestess of Mut now- She performs in the ritual dances? But we studied writing together for a while, when the school was too short of tutors to separate out the girls. And Hondo's her guard, but he looks out for me, too. Kasiya was the other one- The one who, picked you up?" Atem couldn't help but feel sympathetic- The grin his brother shot him looked practically painful. "He's my guard- And lives here with me. It's thanks to him that we met Hondo, too, so-"

"Sawheru," he cut in, voice soft in his effort to still the distress shining beneath the shallow cheer. His mirror fell silent, slowly shutting his mouth as Atem leaned his elbow on the table, a faint smile playing at his lips. "I do not mind if you sneak out to parties with your friends." So long as he was safe, at least.

"…oh…" The allowance seemed to baffle Sawheru more than relieve him, as he merely blinked- Then started frowning at the table again. And this time Atem allowed it without comment, taking advantage of the stillness to truly consider the young man sitting before him.

There _was_ still a great deal of youthfulness about Sawheru's features- A softness to his cheeks and folded fingers, bright eyes strikingly large. But perhaps those were things that would simply never change no matter what his age- Their great uncle certainly had similarly large eyes. And Atem remembered enough to compare the person sitting before him to the young boy he had been, and marvel at the contrast.

Of course, Sawheru was also _garbed_ far differently from his days in the palace, and that could be affecting Atem's impression. The white, fine quality of his linen might be familiar, but little gold glinted on Sawheru's warm skin- The only hint at all coming from a small ring on his middle finger, which he touched now and then in his restless stillness. There was a deep blue scarab set upon it, meant perhaps to match his cloth belt and the thick hemming at the neck of his tunic, and the beads at his throat. For he wore a thin woven collar of tiny rounded stones, shining in the candlelight with the warm yellows and bright greens and dark blues of Kemet's most favored gems.

Except, Atem suspected they were not truly agate, or turquoise, or lapis lazuli. Something in the sheen of the jewelry or the weight in his gut said they were nothing but faience.

The prince's gaze lingered on the vibrant piece, considering how to breach the tension that hung in the air like an oppressive heat- When Sawheru rose, moving towards the chests bordering the room. "-do you want a drink? I should have some wine here if-"

"No." Atem fought the urge to frown as Sawheru only increased the distance between them. "I am well-"

"-is it Father?" His host spun on his heel, and the fiercely fearful violets suddenly turned on him numbed Atem's tongue. "I had heard rumors that he is not well- And that someone tried to kill him! Did they- Or is it Melinia? She seemed healthy when she was at the temple last, before the floods started-"

" _Peace_." Atem raised a hand, and Sawheru fell silent. But the submission was obviously done out of respect, not consolation, and Atem found it only too easy to offer a reassuring smile, if it would but still his sibling's distress. "I am not here about family- Father survived that attack unharmed, and Melinia is just fine. I saw her this evening."

The effect was astonishing. One moment Sawheru was small and tense and anxious as a gazelle caught in a lion's claws, and the next? He shuddered with a loosed breath, and mirrored Atem's smile- And it was like a cloud had finally rolled back and freed the moon to shine, as it was meant to. "Oh… When I saw you had actually come here, I feared the worst." Sawheru's grin curled with the confession, but never quite died, even as he looked self-consciously away. "That you wanted to come tell me yourself, before anyone else could."

"And I might well have, if that were the case." Or at least, Atem _hoped_ he would have, if it meant softening such a blow. And the fact that what he had to say was not _anything_ so bad as that- It freed him. His smile sobered, but his expression remained steady as he finally confessed that "But that is not it. I am here… Because Father ordered your return to the palace on the morrow."

"Yes, I know." Sawheru stopped evading his eye, and for once his gaze was direct, untroubled, his words unhurried. "This feast was supposed to be to celebrate that. A farewell party- For me, at least. The noble is hosting it because he's some distant relative of Kalim, one of the new priests- Probably just using that as an excuse to gather friends and drink. Azizi heard of it through a friend of hers- One of the dancers hired? So… Hondo was to ready the horses, and the rest of us were to meet him in the stables. But my tutor held me after class because I failed an assignment, and Azizi waited for me after her evening prayers. So Kasiya must have come looking for us, and…"

He must have read something in Atem's expression- The lingering gravity, or the way his brow remained furrowed. Or perhaps Sawheru had simply processed his words fully, and realized the older prince could not simply be there to _inform_ him. Whatever the case may be, Sawheru's words dwindled away into nothing, his smiled flickering into uncertainty. "…what about it?"

Yes… What about it… What to _do_ about it… How could he possibly word this? How would this familiar stranger with his quiet, powerful sentiments react to what Atem sought to say?

But, he had also seen this little circle that surrounded him. They clearly cared about Sawheru, and he about them.

Atem clung to that that certainty as he finally said, "I was wondering if you truly wished to return."

Sawheru- did not react at all. He just stared, expression flat and frozen and unreadable as Atem pressed forward, only retroactively musing that _he_ was the one dodging his brother's eye now, dropping his gaze to the table with frowning consideration. "Father may think he's doing something you will want, but I do not want you to feel pressured to agree just to please him. He _will_ listen if you say-"

"You…" Atem raised his gaze at the interruption, taking in the speaker who had so softly spoken. The light about Sawheru had dimmed once more, surprising and dismaying the elder prince. But there- There was something different, about him. He was not contained, gave off no restless distress as he had before. Sawheru was perfectly, deathly still in his reticence. Even when the boy met his eye, Atem had to swallow when he realized he could not read Sawheru's thoughts as he stated the truth. "You came here, to see if I would stay in the temple."

"-if you wished to," Atem confirmed, unsure why his own nerves were fraying, robbing him of the ability to inject any reassurance into his quick, matter-of-fact tone. "If you did, I would say something to Father before the reunion tomorrow- Make certain that he does not ask you to accept some position at court, in front of everyone, where you can't refuse it. The visit will still have to happen, everyone knows about that, but it could just be a short one."

He shut his lips against any further ramblings - since when did he allow uncertainty to spew out of him like that? - but even then, Sawheru was slow to speak. The two simply gazed at one another, and the only thing Atem was certain of was Sawheru was trying to read _his_ thoughts and intentions, as he was his… And facing the exact same failure.

Finally, Sawheru stopped trying, turning his warm purples on the lamp in the window as he spoke, words slow and weary. "I would miss Azizi, and Hondo, and Kasiya if they stayed behind- Miss all of the rest of the kids in the school. And I don't know how to act in court anymore… I am not sure I ever did."

Atem nodded, even unseen, for this was exactly what he had feared. Whatever satisfaction he felt was a frail, weak thing, though, and faded completely when Sawheru turned back to him, the strangest sort of stubborn calm in his eyes. "Why don't _you_ want me to come?"

-Atem could feel his features twisting, his reaction surfacing half-a-second before his mind recognized his own dismay and he could stop himself from fumbling for words. "That- That is not-"

"Your highness-"

He jolted to his feet at the voice, tense with shock and garbled frustration when he saw Kasiya hovering in the door. The guard jerked in reaction, but turning a confused grimace between the shaken heir and the still, silent second prince. "-I don't mean to intrude, but the guards are going around asking questions, and Hondo says he heard them mentioning us."

"…you should go." Atem jerked his head around at Sawheru's words, but the younger man stared right passed the protests that must have shown on Atem's face with a steady, unshaken focus. "How did you get in?"

"-by the main entrance," he breathed, answer little more than a murmur. However much his mind may scream to _not_ leave their discussion there, Sawheru was right. He could not stay if they were under threat of being found. And so he saved his glowers for the window. "We left our horses there, and distracted the guards. They never saw us."

"Good." Sawheru gave a decided nod and turned to his personal guard. Kasiya was already staring at him, a vaguely irked frown on his face, but he made no move to interrupt as his prince spoke. "Kasiya, tell Hondo to go unsaddle the horses in the stable, and Azizi that she should take the priest and Mana to the side gate and get them out. Then come back here." The guard nodded, turning without a word to slip away and follow his orders as Sawheru turned without preamble to Atem, giving him an instant, unbroken explanation. "Kasiya can guide you back to the main entrance and take you to your friends. That way's more out in the open than the side gate, but if you keep your head down and hair uncovered, they will think you are me, and let you walk about the precinct without any trouble… I will stay here in case the guards come around, to deny that you're here. When you get to the gate you can distract the sentries again, get out, and ride the horses around to meet your friends at the other entrance." Sawheru actually _grinned_ , but after seeing the real thing some moments ago, Atem could tell that it was false. Somehow, that was worse than open sorrow. "Kasiya knows how to get back in on his own, so he will be fine once you are gone."

All Atem could do was stare. Even with hidden disappointment staining Sawheru's manner… Even when the crown prince had already _known_ his brother was not the little boy he had known in the palace, he could not speak for a moment.

How did Sawheru continue to astound him so?

"…and how will Azizi get my friends out of the side gate?" he asked after a long moment, striving to cover his wonder of his brother's quick thinking and seamless shift between reticent boy, and self-possessed young man.

This time Sawheru's smile was genuine, any lingering soggy emotions making his words come off as sentimental. "She's smart, she'll figure something out."

Atem merely nodded, out of obvious, easy things to say.

But he could hear someone walking back, and when his brother turned for the door, Atem's hand shot out without a thought. His fingers caught Sawheru's forearm, closing in only the lightest of grips- But still, Sawheru froze. He had _allowed_ the physical stall. A memory rose up from the recesses of the prince's mind - fingers clutching, offering support and solace as a dragon roared destruction over their heads - as he strove for words. They came, stumbling and weak- A sharp contrast to the even, earnest expression he fought to hold. "Sawheru… You know I would _like_ you to return, don't you?"

He had not meant to say it. He would never have _lied_ or pretended to dislike his brother, but he had meant to stay silent on his own preferences. To do otherwise might influence Sawheru's own desires.

But, somewhere between deciding to come to the temple, and that moment-

Sawheru turned and stared at him, a flicker of stark hope in his eye… That disappeared in a blink as his gaze met his, and didn't find- Whatever it was he sought. "-but you don't think I should."

It was not a question, and Atem did not answer it.

He let his fingers drop as twin defeat sung between them.

Kasiya appeared within moments, frown only darker- Though he pointed it at Atem's feet with a bow of his head. "The others have gone. We can leave whenever you wish, your highness."

"-then we should not wait," Atem said, a contrived firmness - not unlike Sawheru's own - marking his words as he moved for the door. He could hear the two behind him, Sawheru sharing his plan with Kasiya as they went, and the prince would have walked right out of the house and down the street without a single look back, except-

"It was good to see you, my brother."

His slippered feet stilled, heavy as lead, just beyond the threshold. He could not move. Not until he turned his head around to look and see- But there had been no bitterness in Sawheru's words, and Atem found none in his face.

No, he- Sawheru _smiled for him_.

A sad, warm thing that lingered in his eyes… Until he shut the door, and disappeared.

It was some moments before Atem found the will to tear his gaze off of the wood, and follow Kasiya down the street… Numb regret haunting his every step.

* * *

"-is something troubling you… Kasiya?" Atem asked, recalling the guard's name at the last second.

His success earned him no reward, the man's glance no warmer than his last as he looked back at the prince, meeting his eye only a moment before moving to climb on a horse. "I am fine, your highness."

That had to be a lie. The man had been a silent, bristling rock since they left Sawheru. Atem had not noticed at first, so caught up in his own thoughts and confusion, but when they came to the gate and needed to get around the guards who had regathered - clearly more alert and wary than the first time the prince had come through - Kasiya barely said a word to him, offering only short nods and clipped answers for Atem's every word.

It was no time for questions, though. The prince only dared inquire once they had dispatched the men blocking them, and gotten safely to the horses still waiting beyond the walls.

But now, that evasion was all he got for his trouble.

He left it be, at least until he had loosed his own horse and mounted it, guiding it into a slow, quiet trot around the building, keeping as close to the wall as possible so as not to be seen by anyone on patrol. Going slow, ears pricked for the slightest shift in sound beyond or above the wall, Atem had the time to consider… And shift his gaze suddenly to the left, catching the guard looking at him before he could look away. "It is hard to believe you are fine when you keep glaring at me."

Kasiya jerked his head forward at the quiet accusation, but he could not hide the glower from his face at being caught. The prince ignored this, letting his own stare slide obligingly away even as he spoke. "Pray, tell me- What are you thinking? I would have the truth." And serious as the situation was, he could not help the grin that played at his lips.

That was the second time he had said that that night.

"…alright…" Kasiya said, edging into a clearly considered reply just as Atem had given up on any reply. He fought the urge to look at the guard again, keeping his gaze calmly forward until- "Why are you keeping Sawheru out of the palace?"

The prince's hands tensed, and the horse surely would have reared had he not softened his grip in time. He forced his fists to relax as he asked "-what?" in an even, dangerous tone.

"You heard me," the guard insisted, turning his head to glare directly _at_ Atem, the ferocity behind the look stifling in contrast to the aversion of moments before. "And I heard _you_ \- So why are you trying to keep Sawheru out of the palace? Do you hate him? Is this some princely competition thing? You think he's going to take the throne from you or something?"

-the truth was one thing, but _this_ \- Atem simply could not process such an unrestrained interrogation! And when the questions finally filtered through his brain Atem pinned the guard with a chilled stare, his voice dropping to a low, cutting place it rarely needed to go. "If you think you can accuse me-"

"Because there has to be _some_ reason- Because if you really knew him you would be _dying_ to get him back!" Kasiya went on, talking right over the prince, heedless of being heard or the potential consequences of what he was saying. Or- perhaps he knew the consequences all too well. Perhaps he already considered himself well and in the fire, and _that_ was why he went ahead and dared to narrow his amber brown eyes on the royal, baffled and scathing and all too judging. "Don't you know anything about him?"

-no, no Atem did _not_ know much about him. And that truth only made his blood boil the hotter, and it was all the prince could do to not pull on the reigns and race away- Or yell right back in the man's face. _Anything_ \- But that would just lead to louder and louder voices and they _could not be overheard_.

So he grit his teeth and faced forward, face as hard as flint as he bit out that "I know that he is happy here, and was not in the palace- What else do I need to know?"

Kasiya gave a derisive sniff, but something of Atem's answer must have satisfied him, for he did not keep yelling immediately. But in time the man spoke on- If in a quieter, calmer tone. "Maybe, but you and the other royals can make him happy this time, right?" Atem merely stared at him for the idea - for the mistake of it - but said nothing as Kasiya went on, frustration rising in his voice- If without the earlier, attached hostility. "And he's _wasted_ here in the temple! Azizi is a full priestess already - and yeah, she's _good_ and deserves it - but those bastards just keep holding Sawheru back and don't give him any position. No power, no role, no nothing- They just expect him to memorize pointless spells all day! Don't let him do _a thing_ just because he can't remember stupid dates or sit through their pointless lectures! And even if they _did_ give him something, he's not meant for running granaries or dressing up gods or keeping a workshop in order!"

"Then what should he be doing?" The prince - truly listening despite himself - asked, his wounded pride nothing next to the wild claims and praise of this guard.

But Kasiya fell silent, glowering down at his own scarred hands as they clenched on the reins of Mahaad's horse.

…perhaps, that was his answer. Even if Sawheru was out of place in the temple, that did not mean he was any more suited for the royal court.

Just as the prince had settled confidently, if grimly on that theory, the man spoke.

"I was a thief, you know."

Atem blinked, unresponsive, unable to process that he had heard that correctly. The admission was unbelievable - so much worse than a few rude questions. If it were true, Atem would have every reason to arrest and judge him right on the spot! But when the prince looked to the guard, Kasiya stared right back, somber and serious but unbending in his glance. "Before the temple- I'd probably be missing a hand right now - if not a head - if it weren't for Sawheru." And the gratitude- The _wonder_ seeping from the confession stifled any answer the royal might have manages. The only means Atem had to reflect his want to know- To _hear more_ was his fixed gaze.

Blessedly, it was enough.

"It was a year back, or something like that- My mother died of a fever during the flood, and Father ran off to some other village and never returned." The shift from numb sorrow to disgust said all that was needed of _that_ , but the emotion died as quickly as it had sparked, a smothering gravity weighing on Kasiya's words as he went on, staring at his hands again. "I knew some men here in Waset who worked a… Trade, that I could help with. Make enough to get by on my own without any trouble."

Atem's eyes narrowed, sensing something beyond the words- This 'job' had to be something more than a garden variety forger of jewelry, or a bandit harassing the occasional travelling merchant. But to voice his suspicions would endanger the telling as a whole… And so he listened.

"But- That was a risky business and I couldn't chance it. Not with my sister relying on me- I couldn't disappear on her, too. So… I stuck to small stuff. Things I'd done most of my life to get by and keep us fed. Except one day, I was _caught_. And Sawheru-" Kasiya gave a snort, grinning forward at the path ahead, and at nothing. "He had skipped out of some boring writing lesson and-"

_"You think you can steal my bread and walk away?! I should cut off your fingers myself for defiling my food with your vile touch, you-"_

_"What are you doing?!"_

_The high, appalled voice rang through Kasiya's hazed mind like the cry of some odd bird. He could barely make it out, much less respond, but something about it prompted him to at least_ try _and lift his head from the sands. Red stained his vision from the blood trickling down his head. He had been struck there, and on his legs, arms, chest, back- Everything hurt. Everything screamed._

_He had long lost the will to keep fighting or to try and rise, but still the merchant and his two sons kicked him and beat him._

_"-guards!" the same voice cried, and Kasiya could see- It was a boy. A_ child _, covered in drowning robes and a cloak and hood and scarf of white, so that only his face and the hint of hair - colored in foreign gold - was visible. He saw only a flash of him, though, before the boy turned his head and cried again. "Guards!"_

_"Hush, you!" the merchant ordered, too dismissive for true irritation. "They will only leave, or beat this thief themselves!" And clearly he did not want that honor taken from him._

_There was a silence, and Kasiya shut his eyes again, dizzy, expecting another blow as his hope died at the announcement of what he was._

_"-what did he steal?" came the voice again where it should no longer be. "Whatever it is, I will pay for it!"_

_His eyes burst open again._

_What- What was that boy doing?!_

_The merchant was just as shocked - Kasiya could see that as he strove to push himself up on his elbows - but the old man's face twisted with frustration in place of greed. "That is not the point! You will only encourage the rat with your charity, and he must be punished!"_

_"That is not your choice!" came the swift, sharp reply, and the beaten thief had to blink to be sure the hard sound had come from the same boy. "Only the Pharaoh can dispense justice- Or one of his chosen representatives!"_

_"-you shut your mouth!" One of the sons was there, and he smacked the shrouded child across the face, knocking him to the dust with one hit. "Who do you think you are?!" The boy did not answer, merely struggled to rise again- Only for the son to plank a foot in his back and smack him right back into the sands. "You stay put and eat some grains- We'll deal with you next!" He marked the promise with a kick to the boy's ribs, and the little thing gagged._

_That- That_ bastard _-_

_"That is not wise, br-" the second son started, only for the first to interrupt with a cutting demand._

_"You want him going and telling tales?!"_

_"…never mind," said the merchant, glowering over the scene before suddenly- A searing pain shot through Kasiya's back as he fell flat once more, and he only belatedly realized the merchant had struck him again. "We will take care of this one, first. We can't let them walk away now."_

_"No-" whispered the boy, but Kasiya could only curse within his mind, fingers digging into the hot sands as he roiled in his regret. What would happen if they killed him? How long would his sister wait? Who would look out for her?!_

_"No!" came the voice again, just before the merchant screamed in pain._

_"Father?!" one son cried in confused fear- But Kasiya was baffled that it wasn't sheer_ terror _when he himself looked up and saw-_

_He didn't know what he saw!_

_It was the weirdest thing- A round, soft looking pink thing with eyes and the sharpest, deadliest teeth Kasiya had ever seen- And they were closed around the merchant's bloody hand.!_

_"What is it?! Why are you bleeding, Father?! Is it that thief? I will-" One of the sons made a desperate move to kick Kasiya right in the head, but the pink blob loosed itself from the merchant and blocked his path._

_More blood. More screams._

_"Back- Away-" breathed the child still groveling in the sands, voice shaking as much as his limbs. He couldn't even push himself up on his elbows._

_He was the strongest thing Kasiya had ever seen._

_The three assailants hesitated only a moment, unsure what to do- But it was long enough._

_Yells for order and the clatter of spears marked the arrival of the guards._

"They listened to Sawheru, of course, once he gained enough strength to pull off his hood," Kasiya explained, words flowing smoothly with gained confidence- While Atem could only stare at the path ahead, caught between a standstill shock and a frenzied need to _hear more_.

"The strangest thing about it wasn't the attack or the spirit, though- It was after." The guard turned in the saddle and shot the prince a wide grin, but Atem was too numbed to even process the light, friendly expression. "The merchant's son could have been killed on the spot for touching Sawheru, but _he_ insisted that he live, and told the guards to just seize them. Imagine my shock when I heard all of this, and realized my hero was a _prince_!"

He gave a laugh that he quickly muffled with anxious look to the wall, while Atem could only stare at the man in a quiet stupor.

 _Hero_ -

Kasiya slowly relaxed as no guard appeared after the outburst of noise, but his levity had disappeared in the interval, replaced by a considering, quieter air. "And Sawheru didn't stop there- He had me brought to a healer in the temple, and… Well…"

_"Why did you do it?" Kasiya slurred around a broken nose and swollen cheek, and Sawheru's hesitant smile disappeared in a blink, leaving his own bruised, cut up face a mask of confusion. "Why did you save me?"_

_"-I don't care what you did," the boy- No, the prince murmured, staring quietly but steadily into the thief's incredulous eyes. "No one deserves that. And now that you've_ told _me why you did it-"_

"He protected me," Kasiya breathed, words little more than a whisper as he glanced sideways to Atem, trying to subtly check if he was still listening. "He traded my pardon for theirs- And their wealth. Sawheru told the merchant he would not tell the king that his son had struck him, _if_ he stayed silent about my theft. And for my own beating- Well. I had wanted blood at the time, don't you doubt it. But looking back, Sawheru's way was better- He had half of the family's profits from the previous year seized and passed out to area farming families who had suffered from the last year's low flood."

That- That was _not_ the proper proceedings at all. By all the traditional laws, the merchant's son should have been killed, the family as a whole punished to some degree, and Kasiya's own hand cut off for the theft. Atem knew that as surely as the names of the Gods.

And yet, staring at Kasiya then, the prince thought that, _Sawheru's_ way…

"I sought him out, afterwards," Kasiya went on, prompting Atem to blink into focus in time to see a softness touch the guard's features. "I wanted to repay him _somehow_ , after what he did… Instead, when I swore I'd even die for him if need be, he looked like he was going to start _bawling_. He _didn't_ , but he offered me a job on the spot. Here- As his guard!" He laughed into his own smothering arm like it was the punch line to some joke, but warm wonder still sung beneath the sound. "And not just me- He took care of my sister, too! I don't get to see her much, no, but I know she's safe- Not just safe, but looked after. Sawheru got her a place in his- Er, _your_ sister's household. Apparently the lady likes my sister a lot- Not that I blame her."

 _Shukura_ , Atem realized, though unable to voice the name or acknowledge the guard's clear pride in his own dizzy wonder.

"My point is-" Kasiya said, drawing the prince's dazed eyes his way. "I don't care what any tutor or priest or anybody says- Sawheru is amazing. Not just with the spirits- Nobody else would have stopped to help me, much less taken a hit for someone like me. But he- He's brave- And kind… And if he just had a chance I know he'd have at least a dozen like me - or better - willing to die for him, because he's _worth it_. He could make the whole _country_ love him," he swore, finishing his tirade with a grim, resigned sort of firmness- Like he was heading to his own execution, and facing it with his head held high. "I don't know what that court of yours is like, but there is no way it couldn't use him. And if you have any brains at all, you would be _dying_ to get him back."

There was a finality to the repeated words. Kasiya had said his peace, they said… And Atem could do what he willed.

The prince said nothing. He just stared forward, towards the growing figures of two people hiding in the shadow of a sphinx statue.

Mahaad, and Mana…

It wasn't more than a minute before they met up, Mana asking what took them so long as Mahaad pressed them not to linger. They had to _go_.

Kasiya gave over the horse in heavy, accepting silence. Chances were he suspected Atem meant to have him punished somehow, for his insolence, or thievery, or both.

Atem never directly relieved him of that possibility, but he did name him just before he and his companions rode off, prompting the man to look up. The prince scrutinized the guard for a long, considering moment- Before finally speaking with the same firm weight the king would use to proclaim a court order.

"Tell Sawheru that I will see him on the morrow… And that I will not say anything to Father before the meeting."

"-what does that mean?" the guard asked, bewilderment replacing his quiet dread.

Atem only smiled, situating himself in the saddle with a simple "He will know" before turning the horse and riding for the palace- Leaving the temple and the guard and his prince behind him.

At least for the night.

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Scarab Beetle_ – Popular form of amulet in Ancient Egypt, representative of the daily regeneration of the Sun Gods Ra & Khepri. __  
Egyptian Faience – Also known as Egyptian paste, a form of ceramic material used like colored glass to make everything from cups to amulets.  
_Wine_ – Not only could priests drink wine, it was often used as a form of currency for them. (Ancient Egypt being a land without currency.)  
_Flood_ \- Egypt's food was produced largely from farming made possible by the yearly flooding of the Nile.

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – Shizuka  
_Kasiya_ – Jounouchi  
_Hondo_ – Honda  
_Azizi_ – Anzu

 **Summoners & Spirits Seen  
**_Sawheru_ – Marshmallon


	32. Chapter 32

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen  
  
" ** _Let a son receive the word of his father,_**  
 ** _Not being heedless of any rule of his._** "  
_~ The Maxims of Ptahhotep_

"Sawheru - the King's Son - and the priests of Karnak have arrived, O Great Pharaoh, and await your permission to enter the palace!"

Atem's breath caught in his throat as the palace herald made his announcement, but it was the king who sounded truly sounded breathless as he spoke, though a broad, excited delight played beneath his formal severity as he gestured for the man to go. "Bid them appear before us."

"Yes, your highness!" The herald bent his head and turned to run, his footsteps echoing through the crowded audience chamber as he went, and they waited… And Atem's gaze skimmed the others standing upon the dais.

He took in the way his father focused on the doorway… The way Melinia and Siamun wore barely-contained smiles, and the priests looked so curious and expectant. The way they were acting, one would think  _they_  had not seen the returning prince for years. A curious reaction, as the pharaoh passed through the Karnak temples on a regular basis, and he would have the authority to call his son to him any time within those walls- And the priests would have surely been with the king during those spare visits. Even the newly appointed ones had come  _from_  Karnak only a month ago- Surely they would have crossed paths with the boy. Siamun had even spent personal time with the younger prince over the years, given special permission to enter Karnak to train Sawheru in containing and controlling the spirits that had prompted his departure in the first place. And- Well, Melinia had already explained  _her_  contact with their joint sibling. Yet they acted as though this was some grand return of some much missed, never seen soul… And Atem could only share a silent laugh with himself that he, too, felt his pulse rush with anticipation.

If he felt the same, and had seen Sawheru just the night before, who was he to talk?

"Did you really think no one would notice?"

Atem did not answer, but he tilted his head just enough to catch Melinia's eye without directly looking at her. It surprised him that  _she_  would dare try to speak. No one was allowed to talk during formal proceedings in the king's presence unless they were involved in the proceedings, given permission, or addressed directly by the ruler. But then, who would hear her? Her words were little more than a whisper, and likely drowned out for all other ears by the music that the king had ordered played, the better to pass the time as they awaited the appearance of the priestly party.

Melinia stood partly behind the prince, though, and could murmur whatever she liked while  _he_  would have to speak up to be heard, or turn around to whisper in her own ear- A move that would certainly draw attention from the gathered crowd. All he could do without suspicion was side-eye her questioningly, focusing forward once more when she noted his attention and went on. "Shukura tells me that the servants have been gossiping since dawn, saying you disappeared during the evening feast and were seen riding back into the palace in the dead of night- That it must be connected the fights reported in Karnak."

"Must it?" Atem murmured, more mouthing the words than actually uttering them. He swore he could feel Mahaad looking at him from across the dais - along with a dozen others in the crowd - but he kept his own gaze pinned on the distant doorway, staring over the heads of the still but restless courtiers.

"…I hope you know what you are doing," his sister said, her tones dropping with resignation and a distant sort of concern. "If you did something about Sawheru returning, the pharaoh  _will_  find out." And kind as the man could be, he did  _not_  take well to duplicity- That everyone knew. Why, in the last year or so it had become something of an open secret, as the benevolent, peace-minded king's responses to discovered intrigues and crime cover-ups grew significantly harsher, with no clear explanation.

Akhenamkhanen might never send him into hard labor or strip him of his position or personal wealth, but he would  _not_  be happy, and as quick as Atem was to undermine his father's plans, he was never keen to disappoint him.

Luckily, there had been no need for subterfuge or whispers behind anyone's back.

Whatever he had meant to accomplish in Karnak, Atem had left with little gained- Save perhaps a much needed understanding of his own blood. Whatever half the palace might theorize about his actions, he had done nothing to undermine this reunion, and since returning he had done nothing save sleep, and gone about his usual morning ritual of cleaning and dressing and praying- Before joining his father and the court.

If the king's gaze lingered long and heavy upon his bent head when he bowed with his usual greeting- Well. A relatively clear conscience did wonders for clearing suspicion.

None of this was anything he could express to his sister, however- Not while they were standing in the middle of the audience chamber with at least a hundred witnesses. So he simply did not respond, remaining silent as a roaring echo of footsteps told the prince that the expected party had arrived.

He was there.

-except as the Karnak group entered and moved through the crowd, heading straight for the royal dais to make their bows and salutations, a frown slowly formed on Atem's face.

He did not see… Where was…

A group of five - four men, one woman - led the group, moving across the room without making a sound, their own footsteps muffled by papyrus sandals. Each was bedecked in bright gold and grand apparel, be it pristine white linen or soft leopard skins or layers of veils and masks. Though the prince had no strong memory of any of them, Atem could easily identify the five by those marks of office. The high priests and priestess of Amun, Ptah, Khonsu, Mut and Montu… The powerhouses of Karnak, beholden only to one another and the king himself.

The fair-sized second group that trailed behind them must be their second prophets and minor priests, and the priests of the smaller, less prestigious temples. Indeed, the prince could just make out a girl among a cluster of women from the Temple of Mut- The brown head of hair marking Azizi, the girl he had seen in Sawheru's house.

But where was  _Sawheru_?

His answer came when the group reached the royal dais, only to promptly part and allow one of the followers to step forward. Only then did Atem realize his mistake in looking for pointed locks that matched his own, for Sawheru had covered them. The men and young boys of the priesthood always shaved their heads completely, or hid what hair they kept. The younger prince apparently followed the second custom, for a white cloth headdress, identical to those worn by dozens around him, covered his head. It shrouded his features - just as his flowing white cloak covered his form - and all but hid his face as he dropped his chin and bowed before the throne, prompting every priest to follow suit.

Atem's chance to catch his brother's eye was lost to deference.

"…Great Pharaoh, thank you for inviting us to your palace, and for calling my own person to your side," Sawheru uttered, addressing the king with none of the grand expansiveness of a courtier, but with a quiet weight that most could only hope to emulate. The sheer sincerity beneath his respect prompted a visible shift in Akhenamkhanen's expression, a bittersweet softness tugging at his lip as he listened.

Before he could actually reply, though, the first of the five Karnak priests - the High Priest of Amun by the looks of him - spoke up, never lifting himself from his own deep bow. "Yes, O Pharaoh. Though our hearts break to lose such a good prince, we gladly return Sawheru to you, and pray only that one day our walls will once more be blessed with his sweet presence."

A shallow claim indeed from Atem's perspective, but then he had heard details of Sawheru's time in the temple few would be privy to, and the high priest  _himself_  may not be familiar with the daily life of his royal yet lowly charge. No, if anything, the old man sounded vaguely baffled beneath the sentiments- And who could blame him? Sawheru had been given to the cult in order to raise him into the high priest's own future replacement… And now the king was taking him back?

"Your care and protection of our blood cannot be overlooked, High Priest Userhet, nor the great care you took with his person these eight long years. You have our promise that they will not be forgotten," Akhenamkhanen acknowledged with a warm, favoring smile- Though, Atem noted,  _without_  a single hint that he would consider returning the prince to the temple's keeping. Where the high priest's subtle request was a touch forward, this unsaid but easily heard rejection was downright shocking, prompting more than a few to break their respectful focus on the painted tiles to look up and eye one another.

And Atem- He had to fight back a smile.  _Oh_ , the king's freedom and power may be far more limited than some may think, but  _no one_  would dare call his father out on such an obvious rejection, that was for certain. And if there were any doubts left that the pharaoh had  _other_  plans for his younger son, they had been rightly dashed in that moment.

The question was- What could these new plans be?

The crown prince half-expected his father to just come out and say it - he was never one for dragging out a ceremony needlessly, especially since they had begun to tire him excessively - but Akhenamkhanen merely smiled, motioning with a wave of his fingers for his youngest child to stand. Sawheru rose slowly to his feet, and only dared raise his eyes when he could not stand any straighter. His warm violets sparked dully with a hesitant sort of pained hope as he looked up at his father, and his expression made Atem's own stomach twist in unexpected, sudden understanding.

He knew that look… He had seen it himself-

"Welcome, Sawheru," their father breathed, rising from his throne in a slow, controlled motion and moving to meet the boy upon the steps of the dais. Warm embraces would never do, but Akhenamkhanen showed as much affection and pride as he could under the circumstances, clasping the boy on the shoulders with both hands. The move looked like it might knock the slight prince right over, but Sawheru's feet proved firm. He did not move, and from where Atem stood he could not see his or the king's faces- But he could hear the smile in his father's voice. "You have returned to us a man- Are you pleased to be back in our court?"

"I am pleased to do as you will, O Pharaoh," the prince said with a simple warmth that suggested nothing, and yet Akhenamkhanen paused when he should have moved, or spoken, belying his uncertainty at the reverential answer.

Atem could not blame him for his hesitance. For someone with such an open, candid manner, Sawheru had proven himself oddly difficult to read.

"-then, know that it will please me if your fellow priests remain in our palace. Your men and women will be treated to a mid-day feast in the shade of our gardens, Userhet, then we may discuss the grain and fish you shall provide us this coming year… And what is to be done about the lands just north of Karnak, which you brought to our attention."

"…my king-" Userhet began, face growing a touch pale as he dared to even try and protest. "We are, most grateful to you, and I am most anxious to discuss these matters. But, our daily rituals-"

"You are most generous, O King of Kings!" interrupted one of the five- A short, round man with a large, flat nose- Which he was currently pressing quite zealously to the floor in a motion of complete obeisance. The soft leopard skin draped over his jeweled color and shendyt spoke of his identity as the Priest of Ptah, but he showed little care for his fine attire as he groveled on the floor. "We will happily accept your kind offer!"

As the man kneeling beside the Priest of Ptah quaked with a smothered chuckle - the Priest of Montu, a younger man with a leopard skin of his own and hard, laughing eyes - Userhet glanced halfway back at the two… But he did not gainsay them. Merely frowned in clear frustration.

An expression Atem himself could not help but imitate, listening to the exchange. He might have his own mixed feelings about the upcoming meeting - the priests were ever anxious to claim more tax-exempt land from the crown - but the open show of greed and disrespect of the high priest was astonishing.

And- perhaps it was nothing but his vexed nerves, but even when he had no name for him, Atem could  _swear_  he recognized the Priest of Ptah's voice… And the priest of Montu's laugh-

"-then rest, and take comfort from our divine home," Akhenamkhanen proclaimed, having clearly decided to  _ignore_  the display. Turning about, he guided Sawheru up the dais with a hand on still on his shoulder, and motioned for him to join the royals and favored who surrounded the throne as he himself faced his guests and courtiers.

His back turned and focus on addressing the people, the king did not see the short, but significant pause Sawheru took at the top of the steps. He was clearly uncertain  _where_  he was meant to stand, for even one's position on the dais and proximity to the throne could be fraught with meaning. Claiming a position too lofty or too low could be damaging in the extreme.

Atem thought the choice was an obvious one, but the boy actually eyed the  _priests_  first, and where the crown prince could not see their reactions to meeting Sawheru's eye, he could see his brother tense at whatever he saw- At least until his attention fell on Siamun. His open anxiety softened there, and even more so when his gaze swerved to the opposite side of the throne and found Melinia, and whatever silent greeting she granted him.

Only then did he dare shift his gaze back a bit and look at Atem directly… And while the elder prince could not pretend any ease with his brother's disquiet, he could not help the smile that twitched at his lips when he saw the mute, but clear question in those violet eyes- One that went far beyond where he should stand.

Sawheru must have read  _something_  in his short message to Kasiya, but… Was it true? Did Atem  _really_  not mind him there? Was he… welcome?

It took no more than a step to answer. A small sidestep -  _towards_  the throne, true, but a shift that created an opening between the prince and Melinia, just wide enough for a small person to occupy… And Atem indicated the gap with a tilt of his chin, never breaking eye contact with his brother.

Like him, Sawheru did not dare smile, but relief shone on his face all the same as he stepped forward and Atem followed his movement, watching as he took his place at his side.

The show of camaraderie cost Atem the ability to actually  _look_  at his brother, but he was well aware of him standing there as the pharaoh went through the long if simple steps to close the morning ceremony. The boy did not  _fidget_  exactly, but there was something about his stillness, and the fact Atem could not fully see him, that made Sawheru seem  _bigger_  than he was, full of restless, but contained energy- A bubble that was ready to burst, but never did.

Atem ached to look, if only to right his mental image of his brother's size, and see if Sawheru was indeed staring at him, or if he was just imagining the soft burning sensation on the side of his face. But he stifled the urge until the king finished with the priests and turned to the two.

"-follow me," he ordered, a soft smile on his face as he gestured for them to move- The same sign he gave Atem countless times to say formal business was done, and they were leaving together.

But this time all Atem could do was blink, a confused frown flattening his mouth. That- was it? But Father had not announced any titles for Sawheru- Given him no role in the court. Was, he waiting for the usual afternoon meetings, or planning some separate event for it? That was…  _odd_. It made more sense to do so upon the young man's entrance- And a part of the prince had been looking forward to it, watching his father honor Sawheru before the priests who had, apparently, never appreciated him properly.

But he was in no position to question the king. All he could do was give Sawheru a quick glance, note the curiosity on the boy's face, then motion for him to join him as they left the throne room, walking in the shadow of the king.

* * *

 

"Sit Atem, Sawheru," the king ordered, and Atem shared one mutually uncertain glance with Sawheru before they took the indicated gilded stools, sat out before a fine golden table and across from their father's own fine royal chair.

The three were alone, the priests and guards who would usually hover at their sides left to stand sentry outside the king's private audience chamber- A grand but relatively small space within the pharaoh's own apartments. Atem knew it well, for it was where his father would always call him to speak if they were not simply sharing a meal in the gardens or - on the king's better days - riding out to survey the city upon a royal barge. But the table was an unfamiliar addition, and he had to wonder at its presence beneath his hands as they sat down and Akhenamkhanen again welcomed his younger son, questioning him on his welfare and his time in the temple.

Sawheru for his part showed little change from the throne room. He did not fall back on easy platitudes anymore, but their lack just left him tense and self-conscious, words coming out of him slowly or in quick bursts, reminding Atem of his first moments alone with the boy in his home in Karnak. The only difference he could really see in how the younger prince described fumbling lessons and kind keepers was how he looked their father. When Sawheru had looked at Atem, it was as if he were asking 'Can you accept me?' When he stared at their father, the question was a plea.

Atem… He did not like it. He did not like it that  _he_  could not help him. Not in this.

Blessedly, even if Akhenamkhanen did not acknowledge the looks directly, his attention on his son was kind-  _Fond_ , a smile never leaving his lips as he listened, never looked away until a movement at the door caught his attention, and theirs.

"Great Pharaoh, do I have your permission to enter?" asked the priestess kneeling in the door, ignorant of the curious looks the royal heirs shot her.

"You do, Isis-" The king motioned for her to rise, then promptly dismissed her and her approach in favor of his two staring sons. "I asked the priestess to join us so that she may help explain why I have brought you back to Waset, Sawheru."

"-you know why I am here?" the named prince asked as he looked up at the woman, who regarded his surprise with a serene, untroubled smile.

"I believe I do, your highness."

"How did that come to pass?" Atem's question drew curious attention of all three, but he kept his own gaze steady on the priestess. "Forgive me, but you just joined the court. And Father- You must have decided to bring Sawheru back well before yesterday."

"I did," the pharaoh confirmed, a dash of approval flashing across his face for the question, before a heavy gravity touched his features once more. "But Isis and the other candidates were with us in the palace well before then, being tested for their future roles , and one of the last trials is judging the candidates' capability to wield the Items. Isis, being trusted with the Tauk, was left for some time to see if it would bless her with any visions of the future."

 _A vision_ …

Atem slowly turned his head to his brother, catching his eye long enough to read the wary curiosity in his violets. So, he must be seeing where this was going, as well. Isis must have seen something- Something that involved Sawheru.

 _No_ , Atem thought, rolling his abstract certainty across his tongue.  _Something that involves **both**_   _of us._  Why else would he be there?

"It was in the seventh hour of my meditation," the priestess explained, drawing both boys' attention back to her with her quiet words. "A dream came to life before my eyes." She shut them just then, putting her thin fingertips to the Eye of her magical necklace. It did not shine, for she was not invoking its power. She was simply remembering. "A shadow- A great darkness falling across Waset and all of Kemet, devouring it whole and even then remaining. Shifting. Churning. The people falling and the temples crumbling and the tombs caving in- All swallowed in the sands of time. And still the shadow remains- Spitting its spawn out upon the earth, setting them loose to spread their darkness on, and further- Beyond my Sight."

Atem- could not speak.

If anyone else had dared suggest such an omen, he would be outraged. Any proper child of Kemet would be! To even suggest such a catastrophe- That it could destroy the perpetuity of the kingdom- That the gods would forsake them and allow such a thing to happen-!

But… He also knew the power of the Items, and the truth that spoke through their magic.

He could see the aghast disbelief on Sawheru's face when he turned to him, speaking of denial. But when they locked gazes, the painful knowledge that must have shone from the elder prince, spread to the younger.

"Then-" Sawheru began, the one syllable holding protesting confusion. It floundered into nothing, though, lost to the prince's hunt for words, and Atem jumped into the gap, eyes flying from king to priestess.

"What does this mean? How does it involve u- Sawheru?"

"My prince," Isis breathed, her turquoise eyes opening partway to stare at him- Seeing him, but not seeing him, her expression as dazed and impassive as ever. "There is a light in this darkness- You. The  _both_  of you." And suddenly her gaze focused, searing through them with a pinpoint precision that made Sawheru suck in his breath and freeze Atem's in his throat. "Flickering in and out- Lost and found and lost again, but never gone. You, my prince, shining from the palace itself with the sun burnt into your brow, denying the shadows any life within your presence-"

Atem's gaze shot to his father, unable to believe- But it was so. Akhenamkhanen stared right back, somber but unshaken by the tale. He had heard it before.

"And his highness Sawheru," Isis went on, and Atem let the incoherent demands he wished to throw at his father slide away, turning his focus instead on the named boy- And watching as Sawheru's expression echoed with disbelief and fear and wonder and tentative concern and- "With the crescent of the moon shimmering upon  _your_  brow- You, rising out of the heart of the darkness itself, tearing it asunder from the inside out with your every step. And the shadows… As you move closer, come to stand with your waiting brother, the shadows run- Cast out in the wake of your two lights as they shine as one."

Those wide purples shot to Atem, seeking a foothold in sanity within his eyes- And not finding it, for Atem reeled just the same as he- Expression still, eyes afire with incomprehension as his heart beat against his ribs amid a turmoil of sensation- The same strange weight and weightlessness that had always filled the prince's chest in the sight of his brother.

He had never understood it, Never comprehended what it meant or what it was… But now, looking at Sawheru, that vision splashed across his mind so vividly it was as though  _he_  had seen it - from the perspective of the sun, awaiting the return of its lost light, and the chance to destroy the darkness. It… It was true, wasn't it? Whatever it was, somehow it was  _true_ , and some part of him had always known it-  _Felt_  it. The tangibility of destiny stirring within him.

"But-" Sawheru choked, and Atem blinked as that one, stifled word, popped the ringing tension between his ears. "But how could… Could that  _really_  happen?"

"No," the pharaoh answered, prompting both boys to swing their heads about with a sharp jerk. "Not as it was shown. Black magic and shadows and even the destruction of our kingdom are far too real possibilities, but this- Isis?"

"You are likely correct, Pharaoh," she agreed, turning her serious countenance from the king to the two princes. "The symbols of the sun and moon seem to represent who you are, as the throne sits upon the head of my namesake, the Goddess Isis, in our images of her- To represent her connection to the power of the pharaoh. I imagine much of the vision was symbolic, such as the shadows themselves. It is difficult to imagine a literal darkness destroying the kingdom without some form of conduit."

"-but if it is not a real event to come," Atem asked, brow furrowing with uncertainty of getting any answer. "What does it mean?"

Isis - the one who had  _seen_  the vision - turned to the pharaoh for an answer.

"…I have long held my own theory on that," Akhenamkhanen finally said, sparking a new wave of shock through his children as they looked up into his face with its contrary hints of sorrow and happiness. "For this is not the first time I have heard tell of this prophecy. Neferu, Isis's predecessor, saw the same vision on the day of your birth, Sawheru."

The named prince stared, mouth just slightly agape, unable to speak. And Atem was little better, too caught up in his own shock to manage more than a choked "What are you saying, Father?"

The king's red violet eyes shifted, staring into his heir's. Unshaken. Undeniable. "I am saying, Atem, that this fate has been decided from the beginning. I do not know if the Gods saw something in the two of you that they wished to make us aware of, or if they  _planned_  your shared greatness and designed you in the image of your destiny. But it is the truth- It has always been… And I think, on some level you have always known it."

Atem couldn't help it- He turned to his brother without thought, and for a breath the two stared at one another with matching confusion and- And a prickling awareness that made the prince dodge Sawheru's gaze just as quickly, feeling like he had been caught doing something wrong.

"Then-" Sawheru asked, pausing to quietly swallow before managing "Then, what do you think it means, Pharaoh?"

"Father," the king corrected, and Atem looked up in time to see Sawheru focus on his own hands, clenched side-by-side on the golden table, the fists half-hidden beneath the wide cuff of his robe's white sleeves. He was clearly stifling some emotion, but Atem could not seek to understand it- Not when the pharaoh  _answered_.

"The sun and the moon- They are all that protects the world from darkness, be it night or day. Each does so in its own way-" Akhenamkhanen mused, caught somewhere between a quiet, considering hush and the hard steel tones of a king as he stared down his sharp nose at one young man, then the other. "The sun- It must show that you, Atem, are meant to keep all under your eye safe from evil, and destroy any who would dare tread too close to you and yours… And Sawheru, the moon shines only in darkness, but it gives hope to those lost in the night. In the same way, I think you would stand as our kingdom's hope in the darkest of times- As the vision warns, may well be ahead.  _But_ -" He emphasized with a narrowing of the eyes, making the two tense where they had slumped with shock. "Only when you stand  _together_  can you truly banish the darkness. Some catastrophe awaits us and our people- The vision made that clear. But if you are to stand as Kemet's last hope - as its vengeance, or its salvation - you must do so  _as one_."

The sheer frustration underlying the pharaoh's last words stole Atem's breath away. He could hear it- Their father's ache to see it happen- And his awareness that he could never force such a thing.

But… Could Atem do it, either? Could Sawheru?

The prince still could not process what he was telling them. Even if he was to be the pharaoh… He was to do something like  _that_? Was it possible? Per… Perhaps, with the spirits and the Items involved… But  _still_.

It would just take time, for him to accept it. And in the  _mean_ time, the pharaoh's heir turned his gaze, taking in how Sawheru was staring at their father, eyes wide, thrown and fearful but- Not flinching. Not looking away. He was  _trying_  to accept what he had been told.

And so should he.

"How-" Atem began, striving to order his thoughts enough to manage even one question. "How would you have us do so, Father?"

The king's features slowly softened, that vague sadness etching itself across his face as he relaxed back into his seat. "…I had once thought it would happen naturally, Atem. That you and your brother would have a connection burnt into your souls, and it would grow with the years, as your own strength has… But it has become clear that, if you  _did_  sense something from one another, it only frightened you into turning away from each other." Atem said nothing - did  _not_  look at Sawheru - but he could hear the boy smother a gasp as he tensed his own features into neutrality. "In retrospect, I should not be shocked- The weight of such a fate must be far too heavy for a small child to accept… But, after what happened with the spirit dragon, I had to separate you myself, to protect you. And I feared I had failed you… That you had turned too far from each other, and from your destiny, to ever turn back. But then, I heard report of Isis's vision-" The king rose a little straighter at the words, looking to the priestess, who stared back with a distant sort of wonder for the proceedings. "And I realized there is yet a chance, if I would only act. -you may leave us, priestess."

"As you will, Pharaoh." Isis bowed fully to the floor, and then left without a single pause- As though she had been expecting such a dismissal. Atem stared after her, wondering if the timing had been planned for some reason… Only to jolt straight when he looked back and found his father standing, coming up to the table- And reaching back over his head to remove the cord of the Millennium Pendant.

He held the Item up before him, looking down at his two staring, uncertain sons. "Do both of you understand what this is?"

"…it is one of the Seven Items?" Sawheru tried checkingly, striving for whatever answer the king searched for while Atem merely frowned on. "You use it to judge criminals and control spirits who can protect the kingdom?"

"That is so, Sawheru," Akhenamkhanen allowed, carefully setting the Pendant upon the table before the two, the Eye of Horus gazing up at them and tugging again and again at Atem's attention as their father spoke. "But that is merely how I and my court use them most openly. The Items have other powers- Many unique to each one… And I learned many of the spells of the Pendant only slowly, through trial and error and fortitude- And by chancing much danger. You likely do not remember, Atem-" He turned to his elder son and left the boy straining to recall his meaning as he said "But there a time, before Sawheru was born, when you were likely told I was in Abdju for a long project, when in truth I had acted too recklessly with the Pendant and spent many months in isolation, striving to fix my mistake."

He… He did remember that- Missing his father, Siamun sitting the king's throne for business, his mother ever worried while the servants whispered. He remembered nothing of what was said - he was so young - and much of what he  _did_  recall might have been shared with him after the fact… But it had happened.

 _Why_?

"Each Item has its own power, and it often uses that power to judge if a wielder is worthy of holding it," the king went on, sliding passed any further explanations as he stared down at the golden symbol of his authority. "And power of the Pendant… is unity."

"Yes," Atem murmured, blinking his eyes off of the golden pyramid to regard his father. "It represents the bond between you and your court, and you and all of Kemet."

The king smiled, clearly pleased that his son could repeat the age old lesson verbatim. "That is so, Atem, and my devotion to the people is what allows me to wear it- And any heir of mine will need to feel the same. But, that is not the only connection the Item will respect. Any true, sincere attachment or want of a bond strong enough can connect a wielder to the Pendant."

To say Atem didn't see that coming would be a lie. But confusion still stained his frown as he looked from the Pendant to the king. "If, you wish to see if we are worthy of it… Can that work when neither of us is the current wielder? Or, would we be taking it from you by trying?"

His father shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips. "I am not asking either of you to put it on. Only the king may wear this."

"Then-" Sawheru asked, the way even his voice seemed to be backing away drawing Atem's glance. The prince was holding his hands tightly together, tugging them slowly back to his chest. "Should I be touching it at all?"

Akhenamkhanen's features twitched with shock as Atem turned to see his reaction, and- the strangest, most bittersweet relief flooded his father's features. It left him looking oddly proud of his second son, who missed the look as he stared at the Pendant. Only Atem saw it, looking from one to the other as he wondered numbly at his father. Did he  _really_  have any concern that Sawheru had designs on the throne? Even  _he_  could see that was unlikely!

"…I am not planning to teach both of you to  _wield_  the Pendant, Sawheru," the king finally answered, drawing both to look up, and notice how Akhenamkhanen's hand had moved. It played across the top of the Item, fingers catching on one side and pinching as if to pick it up from the odd angle. "I tell you this, because I am going to teach you one spell… And have the Pendant test you."

Before Atem could even ask what he meant, the king's hand rose- And a small bit of gold came away with it. The shine of it blinded the prince, forcing him to blink as he wondered- No. That wasn't part of the  _Pendant_ \- It couldn't-

But as his vision cleared, he saw that yes- A piece of jagged gold sat in his father's palm, and even as he gaped he could see strange lines etching themselves across the face of the Pendant, cutting it into sections- Before Akhenamkhanen grasped the Pendant whole, and softly but firmly  _smashed_  it down.

The Item shattered. Pieces flew across the table, onto the floor, and scattered into the laps of two astonished princes.

* * *

 **Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_King's Son_ – The King's '_' was often used as a respectful form of address for royal relatives, similar to a title like 'Prince'.  
_Property_ – During the New Kingdom era, the priests of Amun gained control of a high percentage of lucrative land.

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_  – Mai  
_Shukura_  – Shizuka  
_Kasiya_  – Jounouchi  
_Hondo_  – Honda  
_Azizi_  – Anzu  
_Userhet_  – ?  
_Priest of Ptah_  – ?  
_Priest of Montu_  – ?


	33. Chapter 33

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

" _ **One foot is not enough to walk with**_ _ **.**_ "  
_~ Proverb from the Temple of Karnak_

"What have you done?" Atem murmured, lifting a single golden piece - a base corner of the shattered Item - from his lap to stare at it, nestled so innocently in the open palm of his hand.

"What I intended," the king reassured.

Before Atem could recover enough to form some response the clink of metal drew his attention to- Sawheru. He was gathering every broken bit of the Item he could, and the gold overflowed from his small fist, falling back to the table to clatter and bounce away. The younger prince did not stop them. He just kept staring with lost, shaken eyes at what remained, and all bristling shock in Atem's mind died before the stumbling concern that struck him.

"This… Why would something like this happen?" the boy whispered, his alarm clear in his stifled, quiet words. The symbol of Kemet's salvation and power and their father, shattered to pieces. It echoed the dismay in Atem's own heart that he fought so hard not to show- That he tried so hard to swallow back. But Sawheru- He showed no fear of his own distress, clenching the pieces close as he shot the king a bewildered stare. "You have done this _before_?"

"Yes, on accident." The easy confirmation did nothing to soothe the stone-still heir or shaken spare, but each was too caught in shock to interrupt as Akhenamkhanen spoke on. "Even now, we do not know all of what the Items are capable of, or what they can do, my son. All knowledge we have of them derives from a book few can read- And they only a little of it."

 _-a book?_ Atem's eyes narrowed as astonishment made way for scrutiny. This was the first he had heard tell of any _book_. But before he could comment the king released the pieces still clutched in his hand as he stepped back, freeing them to tumble across the table.

"Once, we strove to understand more of the text, but our successes only proved the dangerous powers of the book." Akhenamkhanen stared at the gold as he spoke, and there was something there- Something heavy and black and toxic and- Was the king ill? He looked ready to _collapse_ , gaze hazy and shaken, skin draining of color. Atem moved to stand, to come close enough to support him, but his father only waved him back, steeling his features into a proper poise- Once he had retaken his chair and relieved himself of his own weight, that is. "Before we ceased trying, though - long before I truly understood its dangers - one trial shattered the Millennium Pendant. It was weeks before I realized that the pieces could fit back together, and that I needed to solve the puzzle to restore it- Using my thoughts of my people to protect me against its traps."

"-traps?" Sawheru echoed, quietly drawing the king's eye. Where the younger prince had never taken after their father in looks, Atem still had to marvel as the two stared at one another, struck in that moment by the mirrored look they shared, dread and determination sparking across both faces.

"…you will learn," the pharaoh said, reluctantly certain in the claim as he looked from one boy to the other. "I expect you to solve it yourselves- Together."

"You-" Atem started, glancing between scattered gold and weary king. "You said it took you months."

His father- Did not acknowledge that. Not with words. But the look he shot Atem was enough to make him feel the weight bearing down on his shoulders again. The prince sat back down, careful to hide that he _needed_ to, as his father explained. "It takes skill and the right heart to meet the Pendant's test- Or, the right hearts," he corrected, looking pointedly between them. "It will be dangerous, and I expect you to _protect_ as well as aid each other. I would not put you through it… But if you cannot master this challenge - cannot build the bond needed - then your destiny will surely drown you."

Atem clenched his fingers into the fabric of his shendyt, wrinkling the linen as he soaked in the great demands- The great threats. They were nothing new to him. Every moment of his life, the prince had walked under the strain of knowing countless lives would one day be in his hands. Even then, hopefully years and years before he need take up the crook and flail, Atem knew what he chose to do, who he listened to and what he learned could one day affect his rule.

And yet… This was different. This was a demand not just of his endurance or mind, but of his heart. His father wanted him to rebuild the Pendant with his brother- To prove a bond that simply _was not there_.

A fact the king must be aware of, for his features soon softened, voice as coaxing as it was kind. "And even if there were no prophecy, I would see you succeed. Atem- You will be king, but you cannot rule standing all on your own, and Sawheru- You are his most natural ally. You share our divine blood, even as you must serve him. There is no one else who could stand closer to you, Atem- No one you should trust more by virtue of who they are…" Akhenamkhanen trailed off into nothing with the last insistence, the words dying in the scented air as he stared at nothing, suddenly and without reason quiet, and troubled. "It is not natural… For brothers to be so divided…"

Atem, did not understand the sorrow he saw there in his father's eyes. Did it truly hurt him so, to see a dislike between his sons that… That _was_ imagined, wasn't it?

"We are not divided, Father!"

Atem's head swerved about, for it was Sawheru who had spoken, words swift and urgent with a clear, singing want to reassure. But the boy caught himself just as quickly, jerking back in his seat as he turned hesitant eyes on his elder brother- And the question in that stare finally unhinged Atem's jaw and mind. "No, we will put the Pendant back together, if that is what you wish," he promised- Only thinking a breath after to look to Sawheru for his agreement. To try would be dangerous- Father had said that much. Would the boy really be willing?

The young prince nodded without a thought, the determined, mystified wonder in his eyes a perfect mirror for Atem's own.

Akhenamkhanen gave a nod of his own, expression clearing until little save exhaustion haunted his features as he rose. "I will leave it with you, then. Stay here and work on it, and I shall return for it before the evening prayers… Good luck, my sons." Protests and doubts danced through Atem's mind, but he said nothing. He only had enough time to rise from his chair and kneel - Sawheru stumbling to do the same beside him - before Akhenamkhanen disappeared.

The king's footsteps and instructions to the guards to stay by the door echoed back to them, filling the otherwise silent room until the sounds finally faded away… And they were alone.

When Atem turned to look at Sawheru, the boy's stare - baffled, lost, but resigned… and curious as he eyed him back just as openly - marked all that really could have passed in words. For what was there to say? Neither knew more than the other, that was certain. All they had, were their orders…

"-we will get nowhere by kneeling here," Atem said, speaking as much to himself as Sawheru as he rose to both feet… And looked back down on his brother- Something in his wide, wondering eyes prompting him to add "Shall we?" with not so much expectation as invitation.

The boy offered a nod and soft "Right," and some minutes later found the two princes back at the table, the pieces gathered off the floor and laid out on the tabletop. Sawheru softly worried one piece between distracted fingers as he watched Atem spread the rest of the gold out across the wood, laying them flat so they could eye each and every one, and imagine where they might fit into the Item they were meant to form.

Few words had passed between them in the interim, each caught in a quiet, tense expectation, ever waiting for the other to truly and soundly break the silence between them as they focused on their strange task. Atem considered the best course of action on his own, and after some minutes of contemplating the pieces, he spoke.

"I will try it first on my own," he announced, frowning solemnly through Sawheru's expected shock and choked protest. "I know it will not likely work, but we should see what happens." Atem could test just how difficult the puzzle might be, and give Sawheru a demonstration of how _he_ could tackle the challenge himself… And Atem would be chancing the traps, whatever they may be, without endangering his brother. If the dangers proved easy to dodge, perhaps Sawheru could try the same after him, so that Atem could see how far _he_ could get with the Pendant. After all, hearts and bonds and faith and unity aside, he had no idea what skill his brother might have with such puzzles.

"…alright," Sawheru finally allowed, pinching his lips against some thought as he stared warily at the pieces- And frustration spiked Atem's thoughts, leaving him frowning over the same gold. He hadn't been looking for any input beyond acceptance, but still… He found it oddly irksome that the boy would not share his thoughts- Did not feel free to. Few ever did with the prince, but still…

There was nothing for it, though, and Atem brushed the thoughts aside as he reached for a piece - the one with the thick hoop, its leather string still attached to it - and began to work.

After the first few minutes, the prince actually began to think that perhaps he had overestimated the task. He had no means to know the time, but the sun could not have moved more than a fraction of the way across the sky before he had half of the pieces in place, the recognizable outline of a pyramid resting in his hands.

…yet…

As he worked, the minutes between one piece being added and the next grew longer… And longer… Until, he was actually moving _backwards_ , doubting his own earlier success and replacing fixed pieces with similar shaped ones to try _them_ instead. For it felt like the thing was changing beneath his fingers! And the hour just _dragged_ , a mess of trials and errors and mistakes and a peeling awareness of Sawheru's gaze upon him, silent and unoppressive but conscious of his every move- But Atem could not even focus on _that_ , for he forgot the time. Forgot the room. Forgot his brother. Forgot even why he was there - _why he was trying so hard_ \- but even then he could not stop. His fingers grew only more determined as his mind lost track of the motivation, digging deeper, feeling between the pieces, sliding down between the cracks and falling and there was a blackness inside the Pendant that blinked out at him and he was tripping into it and into the bleak, harsh, blinding light there at the center and it was drawing him in swallowing him exploding in his face into a thousand fragments of gold they were surrounding him they would _bury him_ -

"Brother!"

Atem choked, struggling against the arm smashed against his chest and pressing his jeweled collar into his throat and he was falling, stool legs tangling with his as he toppled backwards into soft, bony flesh.

A sharp gagging sound echoed up from behind him, but he was too numb to mind- To note even the breathless sting at his throat as he stared blindly upwards, a vulture soaring in his vision… Until he recognized it as the familiar image of Nehkbet, painted on his father's ceiling.

What… Had…

"Could you- Get up?"

Atem jolted, mind toppling back into shock at the strangled words breathed against the back of his ear. His sudden twitch prompted another pained groan from beneath him, and the prince remembered- Sawheru. He had pulled him back, away from the Item. He had fallen with him.

He was _under him_.

Rolling was a clumsy, stumbling feat, but Atem managed it- slamming down on his elbows as his nose scraped the tiles in the impact- Freeing his smothered sibling. The boy's hacking coughs echoed in the prince's swimming head until he blinked passed his own dizziness enough to look down into Sawheru's face. "What…" Atem began, only to find he had to fight a burn in his own throat to speak. "What happened?"

"…you were shaking-" Sawheru answered when he finally caught his breath. "Screaming- Or, trying to scream. You didn't make much noise, but…" The boy opened his exhausted eyes, focusing up at him with disbelief shining in their depths. "-you don't remember?"

He… wasn't sure he had ever known to begin with. All the prince remembered was falling, and shadows, and getting lost in a strange, golden black maze. But he didn't even know how to describe it. All he could do was look slowly upwards, and stare at the half-completed Item precariously balanced on the edge of the table.

What sort of magic had _that_ -

"Atem? Sawheru?"

It was the king, hovering in the doorway and staring down at them. Atem jolted up at the sight, ready to ask why he had come back so soon- When he noticed the warm colors playing off of his father's face, and he realized with a jolt that it was the red, dying sunlight.

"-it is dusk?" He knew it was so, but he could not help but stare out of the high window, senses struggling to take in the fact that _hours_ had passed since he first touched the Puzzle. He could the feel the proof of it when he considered - the moaning emptiness in his gut and the dry parchment of his tongue - and he turned incredulous eyes on his rising younger brother.

Had- Had Sawheru been watching him work _the whole time_?

"-then you tried to solve it on your own, Atem," the king mused as his gaze shifted to the broken Pendant. It was not a question, so the prince did not answer. He simply watched as Akhenamkhanen crossed the room and picked up the Item. He turned it in his fingers as the two looked on, and a single glance told Atem that Sawheru was wracked by the same question as he.

What would their father make of their failure? … _his_ failure?

-little, at least as far as the king chose to acknowledge. No, he merely considered how much Atem had managed to finish, then set it aside in favor of minding the two. "You must be hungry- You both missed the early feast. The priests have already left."

"-they are gone?" The dismay in Sawheru's voice was impossible to miss, even as he obviously strove to cover it, and despite his own dread and shaken mind Atem could not help the want to dispel it- Even as he knew there was little to be done. He could not even reassure the younger prince that he would see his friends again- Not when they still did not know their father's plans.

But the necessity for comfort was softened by the king himself, who nodded confirmation only to say "All but one. Siamun told me that you had a personal guard in Karnak- One of your choosing, and not the priests'. I have had him invited to join the royal guard."

"-Kasiya is working here?" The young prince was too breathless with shock to smile, but Atem did it for him, pleased to hear that, even after failing to stop Sawheru's return, the younger had not lost _all_ of his friends.

"Yes. You may not see him for some time - he must be taught the policies and layout of the palace before he can be assigned to guard you again - but he is here."

"Then-" Atem cut in, mind jumping two steps in every direction with the meaning of the king's words. "You are keeping Sawheru in the palace- Permanently?"

"…for the time being," their father answered, smiling down on them as he drew their attention back to him. "We will speak more of it later, but yes Sawheru, you will stay- At least until the two of you have completed the puzzle, _together_."

The emphasis stifled any questions that welled up in the prince's throat, making him swallow them back self-consciously. His father clearly did not approve of him trying to work alone, even with Sawheru watching… And now that he had experienced the Pendant's shadows firsthand, he thought he understood why. But he saw little point in asking their father about the magic that had trapped him, or how they should solve one puzzle between the two of them. He could sense, even without asking, that figuring that out on his- …on _their_ own, was half of the point.

"I never expected you to complete it one day. It will take time… We can discuss your place when it is done, Sawheru. Our thoughts may well change by then, and there are many possibilities," the king said, his warm stare making it clear that he thought any shift could only be for the better. The younger prince seemed, if not satisfied, then at least mollified, and Atem could not find reason to complain. It was still nothing stable. Sawheru would not have the security of a court position to encourage the nobles' respect… But he was still the king's son. As long as their father made sure to publicly favor him, no one would dare belittle the younger prince- Not to his face.

Once Sawheru gave a mute, considering nod, Akhenamkhanen turned away, taking up the stool the boy had abandoned - the only one still upright - and picking up one of the pieces on the table. "In the meantime, I have had food sent to your chambers. You should eat, and rest- I will call you to me on the morrow."

Atem stared with bated breath, waiting to watch his father fix his shattered Item… Only to realize that he was staring back at him, an amused smile playing at his lips that made Atem flush in flustered disappointment. Of _course_ he wouldn't do it in front of them!

But, the possibility dashed, he actually considered the king's orders- And frowned, looking between an uncertain brother and expectant father. "… _my_ chambers, Father?"

"Yes." Akhenamkhanen turned a gold piece between his fingers, his face suddenly heavy with the weariness Atem well knew indicated sorrow, covered and hidden. "It would not do to send you back to your own, former rooms, Sawheru."

"No…" the named prince echoed in a similar, quiet manner, and Atem wished he could just swallow his tongue. He had forgotten- Sawheru's childhood rooms had been linked to their _mother's_. Those rooms had long been abandoned, left vacant as the king continued to dodge all efforts on his court's part to have him remarry.

They would not touch those rooms- Not even now.

"Then, he is to stay with me," Atem accessed, stating the fact firmly- As though he were insisting, and not simply aware of the king's own meaning.

"While you are working on the Pendant, yes. I have had one of your rooms converted into a bedchamber- The one beyond your presence chamber. You will be sharing the rest of your living quarters, as well."

That was no great loss- What did it matter if Sawheru made use of his rooms? Chances were, with his own responsibilities, Atem would only rarely be around to notice…

…except, that assumption rang wrong in his ear, even before the king went on to confirm what was only dawning on him. For if they were supposed to be solving this _puzzle_ together- Would Sawheru be accompanying him on his travels, or…

"I have also ordered Siamun to go back to Swenett in your place, Atem. He will finish the assessment of the quarries, and make any other trips needed for the foreseeable future."

The prince- stared, mind caught on what he struggled to process, much less voice. "I am, to stay in Waset?" The thought was not just undesirable- It was nearly incomprehensible. Atem had _never_ lingered in the capital overly long. He had been traveling the river and the kingdom since his second summer! And his reasons for doing so had only increased with age- His very _purpose_ in his father's court was tied to his ability to reach the corners Akhenamkhanen rarely could! What- What would be the point of him in Waset? What would he _do_?

The answer was a given, of course, and he could feel Sawheru looking at him- But he did not break his own gaze from the king- Not until Akhenamkhanen nodded, mouth set in a firm line that spoke of a willingness to insist, _if_ Atem made him. "I will need the Pendant with me for my afternoon audiences and prayers at dawn and dusk- The court cannot know that it can be broken, or that I do not have it on my person at anytime… I would have needed it this afternoon, had Akhenaden not handled the priests in my place. Your only chances, then, to solve the Pendant's puzzle will be in the mornings and late evenings- And you must be in the palace to receive it when I send it to you."

It made sense, certainly, and also explained why Sawheru had been given no title- Anything of any meaning would come with responsibilities that would distract the prince from the Pendant… Just as Atem's usual work would have sent him too far away…

Logic did little to erase the objections stifled in Atem's throat, though.

* * *

"-the servants made quick work of it," Atem observed as they walked into a room and considered the newly renovated space. They had not touched the décor. Fish and turtles still swam through painted waters beneath their feet, and doves still flew among the blooming papyrus that covered the walls. But the numerous chairs and chests and vases of the prince's sitting room had been removed or pushed aside to make room for a gold-painted bed, tables and other pieces necessary for its new occupant's comfort. The additions were not quite so fine as those in Atem's own chamber, a few rooms over, but the staff must have pulled them from chambers elsewhere in the palace- Hopefully unoccupied ones, though few would protest sacrificing their rooms' goods to a royal.

And really, watching Sawheru look slowly about the room, arms folding tight like he was afraid to touch anything, Atem wondered if finer, lusher items would have simply disturbed him more. It was only lucky that _some_ things looked to be from the boy's own home- Or at least Atem thought he recognized the modest marbles resting on a golden chest, piled in a turquoise bowl so bright it put the colored clay balls to shame. Hopefully, the familiarity of the items would help Sawheru feel comfortable in his new abode- The royal apartments of the 'first' prince.

Atem's apartments were made up of five chambers connected one to the next - a presence chamber for receiving visitors, a 'sitting room' intended for private meals and relaxation with court favorites, a dressing room and closet, his bedchamber, and finally a private study and library. All of the rooms were set between a long, private hall where guards stood watch, and a terrace that connected to a private courtyard garden.

Comfortable enough accommodations… Though honestly, Atem lingered so little at court that they were near as foreign to him as to Sawheru.

"-the food must be in another room. It would not do to eat in here, now," Atem mused allowed, prompting Sawheru to mind him rather than the room. The younger prince had said little since leaving their father's presence, though a single look at his face showed he had things to say. And where Atem had first taken his silence as a sign of nerves or fear, he had since recognized that, no- Sawheru's glances were uncertain, but direct. Expectant. He was not struggling to speak, he was _waiting_ \- And indeed, the moment their escort withdrew to the hallway, leaving them 'alone', he spoke.

"Brother… Are you really comfortable with me taking your room? I know it's the Pharaoh's orders, but we'll be right in each other's faces, all of the time."

"I think that is the point," Atem pointed out as he stared out into the gardens, a wry edge coloring his voice- But not annoyance. Not resentment. Not for _him_ \- Not even for the king. Not really…

It was just, did their father _really_ expect this to work? Rooming them together, denying them all responsibilities that might distract them from the puzzle and each other- It was obvious what he was doing. He was trying to _force_ them to bond.

And… Yes, on one hand, Atem understood. He saw why his father thought it important, and how pushing the two into contact was necessary if they were to trust each other, but… Perhaps it was the measures the king was going to, or what Atem himself was losing in the bargain, or simply the pressure of whole situation, but Atem could not help the tension that ran through his blood- A strange, stifled frustration. For Akhenamkhanen did not intend for them to simply _get along_ \- He wanted them to be… Well, to have what Atem and Mahaad had. What Atem thought he saw between Sawheru and his guard, Kasiya. He wanted them to be close- So united that the Pendant itself would bend beneath their united strength.

How… How could anything like that be forced? How could their father just _expect_ that to happen?

"-Sawheru?" he breathed, seeking his attention- Only to find there was no need. When Atem tore his eyes away from the courtyard he found warm violets fixed on him, as though he had been staring at him all along. The thought stole the weight out from under Atem's frown, painting his words with a hesitance he never intended. "…do you not mind?"

"-living here with you?" The question was awkward, slow with the knowledge it was likely wrong, and the younger showed no surprise when Atem shook his head.

"All of it. Being back in the palace, losing most of your friends, being pushed into… _this_?" He had no other word for it. The best he could do was wave to indicate Sawheru, himself, and the half-a-room of space between them. But Sawheru understood. Atem could see that in the way the boy mouthed for instant answer, only to swallow it back behind a twist of emotion- Something that made him study his own sandaled toes and Atem rush to emphasize that "I do not mind having you here, but this feels… It's not coming from us. I can't say we have choice, even if you… But I would not have you feeling like you must endure this. Not in silence." If they were to have any hope at all, it would only come though honesty.

"…I have not lost my friends," Sawheru whispered, just as Atem felt like the silence would suffocate him. The boy seemed to find courage in his own words, too, raising his head with a small, self-conscious smile. "Kasiya is here, and my friends are my friends, wherever they are. And- Sometimes the palace scared me, when I was little, but- It was also home, too. And…

He visibly struggled with whatever thought filled his mind, but relief that Sawheru was actually _talking_ to him made it all too easy for Atem to twitch a smile into place and gesture for him to 'go on' without words- Afraid even speaking would deter him.

"It's odd, reuniting like this-" Sawheru broke their gaze again, but only to reach up and loosen the blue band that held the cloth to his head, pulling it away to free locks that looked so much like Atem's own. Sawheru ruffled his own crushed spikes as he looked off into the gardens, staring like he could find his voice among the trees and their leaves, burnt red in the glow of dusk. "Being pushed to risk the Pendant together, and hearing that prophecy, and that we have to stick together- I don't know what to do with that… Maybe, I should resent it, that we _have_ to do this… But I don't. When I realized why I was here, I was-" Words failed him again, but Atem- He dared not speak. Dared not even move, or breathe, or do anything to disrupt Sawheru's thoughts- Pulse beating the question in his ear.

 _What_? Sawheru was _what_?!

"I missed Father, and Melinia, and Siamun and the palace and everything-" he confessed, the break from his earlier words making both frown with consternation, but the disappointment died quickly when Sawheru finally found his eye again, shock slowly smoothing the creases from Atem's brow as the younger spoke on. "But you… I never really knew you… But I wanted to. When I was little, I would always see you and think- You're so 'grown up' and strong and sure of yourself, and you must have seen _everything_ traveling with Father, and Siamun would always speak of you and- And after you first showed me how to summon a spirit, I thought if I could just… I don't know." He shrugged, a flush crawling across his nose as his gaze hid itself among the painted doves, and Atem couldn't move. He _wanted_ to speak that time- Tell Sawheru how he was never really sure of himself. How he was just, always striving as hard as he could to be strong and wise, like Father and Mahaad and all of the priests- To be what they needed him to be. That Sawheru needn't try to- But. He seemed so happy when he talked about how he saw him. Should Atem really protest? Was- Was it alright that he felt such relief, that Sawheru did not fear him, but saw him like _that_?

Sawheru shot an uncertain glance his way, and whatever he saw on Atem's face - the prince was too caught in his own thoughts to bother controlling his expression - must have been reassuring, for the boy visibly relaxed, the tense line of his shoulders dropping as he smiled at him, words quiet and shy but _firm_ , too open and sincere to dare doubt or question. "Maybe the gods made me to feel this way, or maybe it's just- _me_ , but when Father said we _need_ to work together, I was… _Happy_. It meant that I could finally know you, for real."

Atem, he- A weight he had never been aware of was gone, lifted from his back, and he felt dizzy without it to ground him. All he could blink in the face of Sawheru and his smile and the fact that he _didn't mind being there_ \- He didn't resent him at all, he-

A laughed bubbled out of Sawheru, stirring the silence as he shot him a clumsy grin. "I know, not the point. We have a kingdom to save- Somehow. I don't know how-"

"No…" That was all he could choke out, but Sawheru stopped all the same, blinking eyes wide and hopeful and alive with a mind curious and sparking behind them, the fact Atem knew something of the thoughts within doing nothing to stifle his wonder. "No, that… Is fine." And, it was. There was still so much unknown, so much to discuss and understand, and Atem couldn't really say he knew, even then, what Sawheru thought of him but- Perhaps he didn't know himself… And Atem could relate to that. He didn't know what to make of Sawheru, either.

But… He wanted to learn.

He didn't say so- Didn't say anything else for some moments, but they spoke without words- As they had in the throne room. Sawheru stared with an unblinking question until Atem's lips curled satisfaction, allowing the young to breathe into a relieved smile- Shy in its nature, brave in its honesty.

When they finally moved, Atem breaking the silence with an invitation to show him around, Sawheru walked right at his side- The tension that had hung between them nowhere to be found.

* * *

"Um… Can I ask you something?"

Atem blinked back the fatigue that left his mind drifting, turning his focus from the shadowed trees to the boy beside him. "Of course- Ask whatever you like. " They had certainly exchanged their fair share of questions already, mild though most had been. There was little else to do after they settled on the garden terrace, neglecting chairs in favor of sitting on the steps with their discarded robe and cloak to protect their legs from the stones, the food they had found awaiting them in Atem's presence chamber resting between them in a line of fine bowls. With no one about but them, and the guards hovering just out of sight, there was little need for ceremony, and though night was quickly cooling the breeze to an unpleasant chill, the gardens were still more comfortable than the stuffy rooms, prompting them to linger even as exhaustion claimed both of their tongues, stifling their curious delvings into what the temple residents ate and if certain servants from their childhood still worked in the palace and what games Sawheru played with those marbles of his.

The questions had died away naturally as the long day took its toll. But, if Sawheru had one more to voice-

He was slow to do so, though, only belatedly daring "What do _you_ think of this?" as he frowned at Atem and his baffled expression. "Working together… It fits well enough that you would be the sun, but I still can't quite believe it's true- That I could help you fight such a darkness." Sawheru broke their gaze, considering the half-eaten hunk of bread he held in honey-stained fingers as his voice dropped, so near a whisper he might have been speaking to himself. "Siamun has helped me master my heart and my _Ka_ , it is true, and I have done my best on my own… But, even if I could control my dragon, there is nothing I have to match the power of the warriors I saw you use before- Much less the three Gods." For surely - one day - crown prince would learn to master the Divine Three, even if it took him a full reign and half a lifetime… And then, how could Sawheru ever stand equal to him?

That was what he was thinking, clearly… But Atem could only stare, wordlessly weighing Sawheru and his soft doubt and self-focused aspersions. For, it was true- It was unlikely that the younger prince had any spirits at his call that could match the elder's own familiars in power. But, he knew only too well that that was not the only factor. And the reason he knew that-

"-come with me," he said, lingering only long enough to set aside his spiced beans and wash his hand in a water bowl before rising and stepping out into the open courtyard. Sawheru was slow to follow, taking just long enough that Atem could consider the approach of his shadowed figure and think- If the guard looked in then, he would likely not be able to tell them apart. The daylight was nearly gone, and they looked so alike without their covering layers. Only the contrast of gold to colored beads and a bare fraction of height would separate them from a distance.

Once Sawheru stalled a few paces away, Atem reached out into the open air and called a spirit- The very one he had sought aid from in the Temple of Karnak.

"… _that's-_!" Sawheru gasped, and even the shadows could not hide the way he gawked at the tiny thing blinking down on them both with cooing confusion.

"Yes," Atem acknowledged, for he didn't need to hear the question to know it, or answer it. "I found him some weeks after you left us, years ago. He came to me while I was wandering near the shrine, thinking about you, and what you showed me-" He turned his gaze, pinning Sawheru with steady, insisting reds. "The strength of my spirits, and most others, would have done _nothing_ against your dragon's attack, but _you_ stopped it. Not with force, but with faith, and quick thinking." Sawheru mouthed as if to protest, but came up short of words, floundering as Atem only smiled in the face of his lacking protests. "You taught me that day, that I should never underestimate any spirit, or person… Or _you_ … That strength need not and should not always come from here-" He held up his hand in a fist, before unfolding his fingers, and tapping one against the exact middle of his brother's chest. "…but _here_ …"

Sawheru gasped against the sound prod, sucking in a breath and holding it in as Atem's hand dropped away, his expression sobering as his words dropped into quiet confession. "I always meant to thank you for showing me that… But no. I had my doubts, but they were not over what you can do. I know you can help me- That you can be my equal. I knew that all along."

Sawheru swallowed, _hard_ , eyes turning slowly up on the spirit that hovered over their heads- The wingless mirror of the boy's own first spirit. Without word or warning the younger prince raised his hand, and the original appeared at its side. The two balls of brown fur considered one another, blinking big eyes and trading ' _Kuri~_?' back and forth before they suddenly broke out in a chorus of gleeful sound, dancing about one another in a strange, happy dance.

Atem watched it all without comment, but when he turned his focus on Sawheru again he stiffened, surprised to catch tears running down his downturned face. Before he could ask what was wrong, or apologize blindly, Sawheru gave a harsh sniff and lifted his head, grinning from ear to ear as he shot him the brightest, soggiest smile the prince had ever seen. " _Thank you_ , Atem."

Atem slowly, dazedly shut his mouth against the alarm that died on his tongue, meeting Sawheru stare for stare… Until a mute smile touched the prince's lips, warm and relieved- and amazed.

That was the first time Sawheru had ever used his name.

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Nehkbet_ – Patron vulture goddess of Upper Egypt.  
_Water Bowl_ – Egyptians had no utensils. They ate with their fingers and washed them after eating.

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – Shizuka  
_Kasiya_ – Jounouchi  
_Hondo_ – Honda  
_Azizi_ – Anzu  
_Userhet_ – ?  
_Priest of Ptah_ – ?  
_Priest of Montu_ – ?

 **Summoners & Spirits Seen**  
_Atem_ – Kuriboh  
_Sawheru_ – Winged Kuriboh


	34. Chapter 34

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen

“ ** _Beware of making enmity by your words._** _”  
__~ The Maxims of Ptahhotep_

"My most heartfelt congratulations on your return, dear prince." 

"-thank you," Sawheru replied with a start, only to stumble into awkward silence as he stared down at the bowed head of the noble... Slowly coming to the realization that the man wasn't going to rise on his own. 

The young royal turned to his brother, expression practically screaming for help. 

Atem fought back a grin at the sight, fighting to hide his amusement. Even if the answer was elementary,  _he_  had little room to talk. He was no better when it came to facing these social necessities, after all. But he at least knew what to do, and so motioned upwards with his fingers- Where the bowed man could not see. Sawheru, ignorant but perceptive as he was, took his meaning with ease and slowly mimicked the gesture before the noble’s face, prompting him to rise and bow again before backing away.

"By your leave, my princes."

"Go with the gods," Atem drawled, watching the man retreat before turning his gaze on the boy sitting beside him. One look at his brother, slumped over in the chair, and the prince could hide his smile no longer. "Did you not know we have to dismiss them before they can leave?"

"No, I forgot-” Sawheru sighed, rubbing the ball of his palm into his eye, and Atem’s humor could not survive the sight. Before he could speak though - insist that there was no shame in the slip - the younger royal jolted upright in his seat, smashing his back flat against the chair as a warm pink spread over his cheeks. The reaction was so sudden and silent that Atem could only blink blankly and follow Sawheru’s stare- To the serving girl kneeling at his feet.

There was... Nothing really shocking about her. She bowed as deferentially as any servant, dark eyes focused on their sandaled feet as she offered them a tray of freshly filled cups of wine. 

Yet it took no genius to see what caught the younger prince's eye. 

Atem would have paid the girl and her bare, oiled flesh no more than a passing glance in any other situation, but he was not blind. He could see that she was pretty- Prettier than most passing faces in the palace at that, if his brother's reaction was anything to judge by.

Sawheru took the offering with the shaky care due a delicate relic - or a poisonous asp – as he averted his eyes, muttering a thanks more cough than gratitude as the woman stood- Revealing more of her slim figure. And all the while Atem watched Sawheru, bewildered by how easily the younger prince was flustered by the naturally bare skin of a servant girl. Pretty as this one was, servants passed in and out of their mutual presence like air, night and day. What was so disconcerting about this one? Was the attraction due to her beauty, truly random, or- 

"Perhaps you have had enough wine for tonight?" Atem's eyes narrowed, even as Sawheru blinked his own gaze off the retreating lady to shot him a baffled frown.

"Why? This is just my second cup." 

Atem said nothing, sensing the weak protest was spawned more by true confusion than any irritation or defensiveness. If he pressed the point Sawheru would likely capitulate and leave off the drink... But what was truly the harm? Sawheru was likely as used to wine as he was… Any priest would be exposed to the headier drink on a regular basis, as the temples accepted the spirits as currency over all else, and not just for use as trade goods.

And if the wine really did go to his head- Well. Atem was watching over him.

He had really made quite a habit of that- Watching Sawheru. 

True, there was little else  _to_  do when the pair had been denied their usual daily activities. They had been rather cooped up since the younger prince’s arrival, and necessity kept them close to the palace and one another. And being critical of all about him and near him came as naturally to Atem as _breathing_ … But, that was a learned behavior. A necessity. It didn't mean it came easily. It was an impulsive, but constant strain on his mind.

Watching  _Sawheru_  though? That was, oddly relaxing. Looking on as their conversations naturally dwindled away and the boy stared thoughtfully across the garden, or leaned over a papyrus assigned by Siamun in their daily lessons, or worked at the broken Pendant. Yes, Atem  _had_  to watch that- Lest he miss some critical sign of his brother falling into the Pendant's maze. But the prince could no longer wonder at Sawheru's odd willingness to watch  _him_  on the day the prince arrived, and Father broke the Item before their eyes. Atem rarely grew restless when he was focusing on Sawheru's bent brow- His furrowed features and unblinking focus and sudden outbursts of frustration or triumph as he tackled the simple, monumental challenge. 

It was a puzzle of its own, trying to read his brother's thoughts. One just as difficult, and just as intriguing as the Pendant.

They had made little progress with the Item over the last few days, taking turns, each struggling with it until the spells tried to drag them in or frustration grew too strong, and the passed it on to the other. And they had so little to show for their efforts... Yet Atem had not felt the long days- Not as he had expected he would. He could not truly consider them lost, for he had spent that time puzzling out his brother.

And it seemed he wasn't the only one- Sawheru's wide eyes hung on him, glazed but unblinking, gaze far too thoughtful to mark confusion. He read something in Atem's silence, or face, or who knew what, but Atem had to stifle the urge to chuckle and draw nearby attention. "It is nothing- You are fine. Ignore me." 

"Something must have made you say it..." Sawheru mused, but the clear reluctance to fight in his voice only softened Atem's smile further... But whether he would have reassured his brother or given into the urge to tease, he did not know- For a hand fell upon his shoulder before he could find out.

"What are you two doing here?" Melinia asked, bending down between their chairs to turn an incredulous, but cheery glare on one boy and then the other. "You haven't moved all night!"

"-are we supposed to?" Sawheru turned uncertain plum eyes on Atem, prompting the crown prince to shake his head behind Melinia and her counter-answer.

"Of course! How else are you supposed to interact with the court?"

"Those who wish to speak to us have approached us," Atem assured, but his sister merely snorted.

"Most who would wish to speak to you are too  _intimidated_  to approach." 

Atem could only blink against such a claim, baffled at the very idea. But when he turned to  _Sawheru_  for confirmation the boy was frowning at his drink, as though he was actually considering the claim- And without surprise!  

"Are you saying the nobles are frightened of me?" he finally managed, a scoff clearly painted across his voice even as he kept all shock and confusion from his face- Features schooled into ease as he stared blindly at an acrobatics display being put on by a pair of men in nothing but golden bands and short kilts, dancing to the rhythm of drums and castanets. 

"The nobles do not know you- You are so rarely here, and you have done nothing to try and breach the distance." Melinia was... Probably right, but Atem did not say so, continuing to frown at the blur of movement the dancers' kicks and flips and dancing became before his unseeing eyes. He had certainly not gone out of his way to mingle with the court, it was true... And he knew it was unwise. He could never open himself to overly  _favor_  any subject- It would be so easy to be lenient with a friend, and he could not have a soft heart for anyone who may be brought before him for justice one day. It was a crime against the gods to show partiality in judgment... But neither could he allow himself to be ignorant of those he would rule. 

But when he thought of actually getting up, approach those who whispered behind his back every day with a smile and open hand...

"Do you wish to speak to them, Sawheru?" he asked, tongue bitter with the taste of wine and half-measures. He would not move, but he would not drag his brother into his intransigence- Sawheru might well feel lonely, separated from his friends, his guard still in training, and only  _him_  for company. 

There was no answer, though, and when Atem looked to his brother he found him staring at the dancers, as he himself had just been... But there was no frown upon his face. His gaze was dazed, but considering, and when the crown prince followed his stare to the bounding, leaping men and back, he could not swear if Sawheru was truly seeing them or not. 

"-Sawheru," he repeated, and the more pointed call jolted visibly through the boy, making him jump like someone has slapped him on the back before he turned to blink mutely, eyes stuck wide and cheeks stained with, Atem assumed, the effects of the wine. "-do you want to go with Melinia?"

"I... Yes?" He more asked than answered, and as their sister ushered him out of his chair his expression said he regretted his thoughtless reply. But Atem could not rescue him, too busy dismissing Melinia's efforts to get him to join them to rescue Sawheru from his own words- And to a degree, too amused by the boy's soggy expression to bother. 

After watching them walk away, though, the prince's gaze strayed to the dancers, frowning in wonder of what could have been in Sawheru's mind, looking at them... When a voice quietly rose up from his elbow.

"My prince."

Atem blinked away from his brother’s back to peer down upon bowed head of the priest. "Mahaad- Were you waiting to speak with me?"

"I did not wish to interrupt your time with the prince, your highness."

A kind, but needless consideration. Who knew how long Mahaad had already hesitated, waiting for a slim opening in his time with Sawheru. Atem was certain neither would have minded the interruption. He did not say so, though, instead giving a small beckoning gesture with his hand. "Something is troubling you. What is it?"

Mahaad raised his head just enough for the prince to read the anxiety in his silence- But the priest did not speak, jaw tensing with withheld words. And Atem... He could not reassure him. Not as he would like to. He would _like_ to smile, draw the man from his knee, dismiss all formalities as needless. But he could not... Not while half of the court looked on.

But- Those eyes could not follow them everywhere.

“Come- The room is stifling and I would have some air. Walk with me.” Moving from his chair, Atem stalled only long enough to be sure of Sawheru's position - still beneath their sister's arm, surrounded by her own circle – before he slipped away. Every eye might have followed the move, and seen Mahaad trailing him, but none dared follow.

Soon enough the prince and priest stood in relative isolation, at the same stone balcony they had spoken at less than a fortnight ago when Atem shared his decision to seek out his estranged brother. 

Looking out over the same dark horizon, Atem waved a hand towards the bowed man, half-hidden in the shadow of the palace wall. “Now, out with it. I would hear what you do not say- My friend, what are you hiding?”

It was impossible to miss the catch in the priest's breath in the near-silence of the night air, but Atem chose not to acknowledge it. Their absence would grow suspicious sooner rather than later, and he would not have them interrupted before Mahaad spoke his mind.

Unfortunately, the priest did not share his antipathy for hesitance, and it was all Atem could do to keep his calm, blank countenance in check until the priest finally found his voice with a slow, uncertain confession. “I have heard tell of whispers, my prince... There is no known source, but many speak of the high priests of Karnak- They say they have been fighting amongst themselves since they came to deliver your royal brother to the pharaoh.”

Atem turned to eye the named temple, mind turning the little tidbit of news over and about for consideration as he slowly mused aloud. “Yes… I cannot say I am shocked. After the High Priest of Ptah gainsaid the High Priest of Amun, right before my father and all of the court no less, I had half-expected to hear of a coup within a month.”

“Indeed…” His friend agreed, with no greater show of concern for the subject than Atem himself. Squabbles for power within the temple were common affairs. Whether it was an open pull for a higher, wealthier position, or metaphorical knives in the dark seeking a monopoly on quiet, but crucial influence, the priests were ever keen to fight amongst themselves with smiles and words and lies- Just as the nobles did in the royal court. 

But the expectancy of this development was its own hint that there was more to the Ring Priest’s concern, and so the prince felt no surprise when he spoke on… At least at first.

“But, the fighting… There are some who say that the High Priest of Ptah has an ally in the royal court, who will help him gain favor not only with the priests of Karnak, but with the royal family… Specifically with you, my prince.”

“What?” Atem turned to face the man, but he could find no further comprehension from his friend’s face, or his explanation.

“Many seem to think that your brother has been told to ingratiate himself to his family in order to promote the priests, to the detriment of the court… _and_ the crown… And that Prince Sawheru saw that you already disfavor the nobles, and so he focused his efforts solely on _you_.”

“ _That’s absurd-_ ” The words hissed out of Atem where they might have roared, smothered only by an instinctual distrust of his surroundings. Indeed, he looked about as he spoke, only to shake his head at an utter loss. “Where would they get this idea? Do they dislike the priests and our family so much that they would spin such tales from nothing but the fact of his absence all of these years?”

“…I believe, your highness, that they are largely drawing from the fact that you have spent much of your time of late hidden together in your chambers.”

“ _That is on the king’s orders._ ” He hit the heel of his hand against the stone rail, but dared not slam it outright- Dared not yell. Dared not speak of _why_ he and Sawheru had been ordered to isolate themselves… And the fact that he could not speak of it only burned his blood the hotter. _The one truth that would stifle all rumors, and they could not share it_.

To any who might not know, the matter might seem nothing but a mere aggravation… But Atem knew better, and it made him clench his fingers together as he _glared_ out over the sands.

That court… If any one whisper grew too loud, focused too precisely on one soul, no matter _who_ they were…

“…perhaps, I have spoken out of turn,” suggested the priest, and Atem shut his eyes and teeth against the irritation that wished to speak up- To say that he knew better than that.

Instead he waited, and the patience to coat the same thought in a little more sweetness slowly came to him. “No, it is better that I know what is being said. Ignorance makes us vulnerable- You are only seeking to protect us.”

As Mahaad always did- Always had done, from the very first day they had met… Though, that night was the first time Atem could ever recall there being an ‘us’ in the picture, rather than a ‘me’.

“…I will keep it in mind.” Pushing himself away from the wall, Atem turned to face his friend. “Hopefully these rumors will prove fruitless, when Sawheru and I complete our task and rejoin the court.” Just as the nobles would have an opportunity to act, their reason for complaint would pass.

Something dark, conflicted passed over Mahaad’s face, but he ducked his head without a word, and though he noticed it Atem did not linger to question him- Simply moved to retrace his steps without pause. “I believe we have attended the banquet long enough. I shall retire early- Once I find my brother.”

Yes, the less time they spent among the nobles until the Puzzle was solved between them, the better.

When Atem reached his royal seat and discovered the one beside it empty, he looked out across the room in search of sharp, brightly tinged black locks… And found nothing.

“…where is he?”

It should have been a passing question- Should have been a simple inquiry easily explained.  
  
And yet, his skin was crawling with itching nerves well before Melinia sidled up to him and gave a cursory bow with an easy, but confused smile at her lips. “Ah, there you are! Honestly, you didn’t have to disappear like that, we would have left you be… Did our royal brother find you?”

“-find me?” Atem parroted, the hollow tone of his echo draining away yet more of his sister’s confidence and good cheer.

“Yes- Prince Sawheru watched me play dice with my friends for a bit, but he said he was feeling a little sick, so I encouraged him to return to you. I had assumed you had both retired for the night already… Did he never come back here?”

Atem said nothing, frozen stiff as he stared passed his sister, mind racing with nothing concrete and everything imaginable.

“-Mahaad.” He turned with the call, not even stopping to question or bless his fortune to find him there, expression severe and alert with understanding already in his eyes. “Have the guards search the halls- The banquet, all of the rooms surrounding- I need to know where he is. Bring him to our chambers when you find him.”

“Of course, my prince.” The priest barely stalled long enough for a bow before he was gone.

“-what’s wrong? Why are you- He likely just returned to his rooms…”

Melinia’s baffled, concerned confusion was nothing but wind in Atem’s ear as he passed her by, the attention and curiosity on every face he passed less than nothing as he rushed for the hall that led to the royal apartments- And their own rooms.

Perhaps it was nothing. Perhaps Sawheru had simply gone to bed when he could not find him! Perhaps Atem was making everything out of nothing.

But, if _not_ -

He had his answer only two turns down the hallway.

The thinning crowd of the feast suddenly turned to a thick, excited gathering of bodies around the entry of a side room, all eyes fixed on the doorway.

“What happened to him? Is he ill?”

“Hah- You think he was walking with that servant girl because he was _sick_?”m

“Gods, what a mess…”

“Would you look at him, he’s too drunk to stand!”

“Has anyone called a doctor?”

“ _Move_.”

With one word the entire crowd jolted- And then tripped over itself to part, the moment they turned and saw who it was… Saw Atem’s face.

He looked at none of them- Simply dove forward into the confusion and guilty retreat to find, what he knew he would.

His brother, on his hands and knees, back shaking with each breath as he strained to rise, only to collapse again- in a pool of his own bile.

“ _Sawheru_!” Atem dropped instantly to his side, reaching around to support his weight- His alarm only spiking when the boy all but _dropped_ his weight against him, so suddenly that for a breath, Atem feared he had fainted.

“… _sorry_ …” It was nothing more than a whisper, and Atem couldn’t swear to what he heard, yet his heart still twisted in his chest to hear the shame in that one, weak word.

Alas, he could not comfort him- Not _there_.

“All of you, disperse! Go back to the feast!” He ordered with hardest, fiercest look he could muster. The crowded hesitated, looked to one another for guidance, or the courage to ignore the prince… And in the end, Atem was grateful he did not have to see if his words alone would have been enough.

“Make way! Make way!”

It was Mahaad, with a crowd of guards… And Set.

“My prince-” Mahaad dove forward to help lift the boy as the many guards pressed back the crowds, making room for the princes and the priest to move away-

“We need the physician, Mahaad!” Atem hissed as they retreated, mind buzzing with the effort to make sense of what he didn’t have time to stop and consider. “I was just with him- There is no way he ended up like this, this quickly-”

“Prince Atem.”

Atem jerked his head back at the call, ready to snap a quick _not now_ when he realized it was Priest Set. That might not have been enough to stall him, but Set held a cup, clearly picked up from the ground near the doorway, and as the prince watched he dipped a finger into the lingering liquid and tasted it- Only to ask, “Do you know what the prince drank this evening?”

“-nothing but the same wine I did, _why does that matter_?”  
  
But no, though he did not want to consider it, the likely truth was already running through his veins like a fire-

And when he read the confirmation in Set’s eyes, they went ablaze.

* * *

 **Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
\--

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – Shizuka  
_Kasiya_ – Jounouchi  
_Hondo_ – Honda  
_Azizi_ – Anzu  
_Userhet_ – ?  
_Priest of Ptah_ – ?  
_Priest of Montu_ – ?

 **Summoners & Spirits Seen**  
_\--_


	35. Chapter 35

Thirty-Eighth Year in the Reign of Akhenamkhanen  
  
" _ **A thousand men have been ruined for**_  
_**the pleasure of a little time short as a dream.**_ "  
_~ The Maxims of Ptahhotep_

"You should go back to the banquet, my prince."

"The only reason I would go back to that feast," Atem replied, the steady, pointed punch of each syllable underlining the rage he held under wraps. "Would be to watch Shada search the souls of the guests and attendants… So that I could discover who did this and _tear them apart myself_."

No, if he were free to go he would be _there_ , watching the priests and guards interrogate each and every soul who had attended the banquet or been in the palace that night.

But, he was not there, and there was no public investigation in progress. Instead, the banquet raged on as though nothing had happened. The priests sought the culprit in secret, and his brother was being publicly painted as a _drunk_ , because he had been _drugged_.

Opium. Copious amounts of it, laced into his wine.

 _If the drink had not turned on his empty stomach so quickly… Who would_ _ **dare**_ -

The question looped over and over through his mind as he listened to his brother heave once more, and empty his stomach for what must have been a fourth time into the bowl the physician held before him.

'To purge his body' they said, before the drug could take full effect.

"Shada and Priest Akhenaden are inspecting the souls of the attendants secretly, as ordered-" Mahaad answered. "If they find the culprit, or anyone who knows anything, they will detain them."

" _If_ \- What is the point?" Atem asked, glaring down at the fist he clenched at his side. "I know who did this."

The servant girl, who had given them both drinks during the banquet.

The one who caught his brother's eye.

He had put together much of what had happened from the evidence Mahaad had brought him thus far from passing remarks heard in the hall, and further testimonies from the guards who asked nothing, but listened.

Sawheru… he had left Melinia's side, intending to return to his chair, only to be detoured by the girl. She had whispered something to him and then guided the prince away, and into a private room…

A spare few minutes later, Sawheru fell face first into the hall, vomiting.

 _Yes… And the only lead we have on her is a claim that she was seen rushing away moments before I arrived_.

"If we find her, we will bring her to you," assured Mahaad, watching the younger prince heave and shake with grim, but steady eyes. "But we can do nothing until then."

No… No, Atem could do _nothing_. That had been spelled out for him quite soundly. All around him had discouraged outright confrontation with the guests. Even when he insisted that there was no way the girl acted of her own volition, he was deterred.

What would it say, Akhenaden said, if they acknowledged that the royal prince had been attacked in this way?

What would happen if they brought forth no culprit to the crime? Showed such a thing could go unpunished?

What would follow if they showed themselves to be that vulnerable?

Atem knew… Filled in many of the blanks himself. But that did nothing to ease his anger.

"Has anyone told my father?" he asked as Sawheru's coughs finally eased, prompting the physician to lower him to the bed and set aside the bowl.

"Yes, my prince. He is the one who ordered Akhenaden to join the hunt for the cause- And he spoke of coming down to see the prince for himself."

"…no," Atem breathed, much of his rage fading away as he imagined his father, too weary to even attend the feast that evening, dragging himself down to their rooms to stand vigil over the boy, getting no rest of his own in the process. "Have word sent to him- He need not come. I am looking after Sawheru… I will not leave him until he recovers."

That should please them all. He couldn't jump into the hunt if he was tied to a bedside.

Indeed, Mahaad said little, and disappeared with no more than a bow and a murmur- As though fearing Atem would change his mind if given the chance.

"…he will recover, your highness," swore the physician as he finished cleaning up and checking the vitals of the now motionless prince. "He is worn down by the purging, and will need a great deal of rest and water, but he should be himself again within a day."

"…thank you," Atem murmured, surprised himself at the quiet relief that slid down his bones.

And that was all there was to it. Whatever else that might be happening within the palace, there was nothing else to be done in that chamber- Save for the physician and the attendants to make their respects, slip away, and leave the prince alone with his thoughts… And the assurance that Sawheru would be well.

That could not settle the concerns in Atem's heart over who had done this, and whether it would happen again… But for the time being, he slid his golden stool closer to the edge of his brother's bed, and simply observed him.

A layer of sweat clung to Sawheru's brow from the exertion, and he looked alarmingly worn down, but his breath was steady and he remained undisturbed by the scrape of the stool legs, sleeping on… And for a time Atem simply watched, and let his mind wander in two directions- One stationary, caught on his kin, the other threading about with questions of why this had happened.

The thoughts twisted and turned back on themselves, running again and again into the idea that it must have been an attempt to embarrass Sawheru, make him a laughingstock or kill him in a way as to paint him the drunkard, the addict. The shameful. For the act was first and foremost meant to shame, not simply kill- Atem could see that. But, shame _who_? Sawheru, of course, but- Sawheru the priestling of Karnak? Sawheru the royal? Sawheru, son of the pharaoh? Sawheru, the brother of the crown prince? Or… had he other sides to him? Sides that Atem did not yet know? Could he- The quiet, uncertain, warm soul that he was, really have been targeted… Purely, on his own account?

Atem did not know, and it ate at him. Chewed away at any other considerations he might have had as time crawled by.

He had no true sense of how long he sat there. For some time, however, the only sound that entered his world was the occasional changing of the guard, just outside their room… Until, finally, movement from within disturbed his watch.

A cough signaled Sawheru's awakening, shaking his body with each hack until Atem recovered enough from his surprise to reach out and help sit upright. As the sounds softened, he offered the water already set aside for the boy's needs.

"Here, drink this-"

But the moment the edge of the bowl touched Sawheru's lips, the boy jerked back, panic running like an audible thing through his body as he smacked the bowl from Atem's hand, shattering it on the floor.

"No! Stay awa-"

"Sawheru!"

His alarm might have come out too harshly, as a reprimand, but still it prompted the flailing prince to still, dazed violet eyes slowly focusing to stare at him, bewildered. "…Atem?"

The recognition – and the twin realization that he had simply been unrecognized prior – eased Atem's own tension, and when he carefully lowered Sawheru back to the bed, his arm remained, supporting him enough to keep his head and chest elevated as they spoke. "Yes," the elder prince confirmed, eyes flickering across Sawheru's gaze and face to take in his slowly dawning awareness. "Did you not know it was me?"

"…no…" The answer was weak, slightly confused, but still the comprehension behind it was promising. What good faith Atem managed to muster, however, scattered to dust at what his brother whispered. "I thought, it was _her_ …"

"-the servant girl?" Sawheru did not answer, or even nod, but Atem saw with a single look that he was right.

That put a new, detailed twist to the picture of events. Sawheru had flinched away from the idea of liquid, poured from the hand he mistook _his_ to be. So, he wasn't taken completely unawares when his body rebelled against the drug. He _knew_. …but, then-

"Did she make you to take it?" Sawheru blinked up at him, not quite comprehending, but still Atem urged for an answer. "Did she force you to drink it somehow?"

A curious spray of emotions rushed across the boy's face- Understanding giving way to a caught, frozen turmoil, and finally? Shame. That was all it could be, though Sawheru tried to hide it, turning his eyes away. "No… I, I drank it myself. I wouldn't even have known, but, she looked so guilty after I started to lose my balance, and so I guessed-"

He trailed off, but Atem did not jump to finish his thought, or protest when the boy shrank out of his grip to drop all of his weight onto one shoulder, until he nearly faced away from him. Atem didn't need to say anything… he predicted what was to come like a natural progression, and a frown tugged at his lips even before Sawheru spoke.

"I drank it myself, like an idiot… Even after I knew, something was off- Knew I felt _wrong_ , I went right along with it when she asked to speak to me privately. I didn't suspect a thing when she handed me the cup."

"You weren't thinking," Atem agreed, prompting a flinch, visible even with the boy nearly turned away- But there was no malice in his comment. No judgment or disapproval. Just observation, spoken aloud as he settled back on his stool with an even, steady gaze on his brother's profile. "You were too distracted by her manner to worry about something like that."

A single, silent heartbeat, and then Sawheru tilted his head enough to peer back at him.

Yes- That stare was all the confirmation he needed. Sawheru had been attracted to the girl. Atem had seen that, and likely _she_ had, too. Whether she had sought to catch the prince's eye from the beginning, or simply taken advantage of the opportunity it afforded her, she had banked on that attraction to draw Sawheru away with nothing more than a hesitant, vague request and a blushing glance- Or something like that. Atem didn't need to know the details to guess the beats of the exchange.

She approached him, turned his head, and handed the wine right to him, without Sawheru ever knowing he had been charmed into poisoning himself.

"Do you know why she did this?" he at least had to ask _that_ , if nothing else… But it was a long shot from the start, and he didn't feel even true disappointment when Sawheru gave a weak shake of his head, a cough rolling through his form before he found his voice to answer.

"No… She just, said she wanted a chance to talk to me, alone…"

The flat, small way he said that- It caught like tar in the cogs of Atem's mind and dragged all of his focus in one instant to the boy- Not to what had happened to him, or what it meant, but to _him_ , lying there, weak and dejected.

The awareness was a sharp, unsettling thing, and the older prince strove to press it back by checking, "-do you still feel ill? I could call for fresh water."

"No," Sawheru breathed, shaking his head slightly, "I just feel tired… And _foolish_. I am sorry, I should never have fallen for such an obvious trap."

"-you don't need to apologize for that," Atem insisted, but his words sounded shallow in his own ear, and when his brother did not even look at him, he pressed on, pulling a veil of ease and confidence over his voice. "It is only natural you weren't of a mind to suspect her, considering. You will just have to be more cautious next time."

"…next time?" _That_ at least got Sawheru's attention, even if he only leveled a mystified stare his way.

"Yes, the next time you seek a rendezvous with someone."

"A… _what_?!" The sun suddenly burned in the boy's cheeks, and all Atem could do in the face of that wide-eyed, stumbling blush, was quirk a brow. "I- I wasn't- Why do you _think_ -"

"-that you thought the servant wanted to arrange a tryst with you?" It seemed so simple, but the glitter of amusement shimmered in Atem's mind as his surprise at Sawheru's manner passed, and the boy's embarrassment only grew. "What else would you expect the girl to want, drawing you away to be alone like that?"

Sawheru opened his mouth- Only to freeze, and slowly shut it as his face burned just a little brighter, in perfect sync with the slight twitch that took to Atem's lips.

It must have been visible, for Sawheru suddenly turned away again, fingers attacking the back of his head with a rough scratch. "Ah- I don't know! I wasn't really, thinking at all. …and what do you even mean, be cautious?"

The turn of that question brought Atem's attention back to his very point, and with that his weak grin slid away… Silence hanging long enough that his brother hesitantly glanced back at him. Finally, Atem found his voice once more. "I mean, it could happen again. Likely will, if not soon, then at some point. After all, _that_ is a very easy way to catch you in a vulnerable position, and someone else might try to do the same- Use their charm or smiles to trick you, harm you, get you alone with them… Some may even try to play a longer game- Truly be with you, but attempt to use you to influence the court, and make moves that benefit _them_ … Or whoever paid them to approach you in the first place."

It wouldn't be the _first time_ someone in the court had weaseled their way into someone's bed, just to get into the occupant's head.

But, Sawheru… All bright embarrassment drained out of him as Atem explained, his reddened skin blanched pale with obvious, palatable revulsion. "You- You think someone would really do that to me? To… That they would try to use me like that? That… They could, do it? That I would…"

He started off so affronted, and yet by the end of his question a clear, visible doubt took over Sawheru's features. In the end, he was left staring at his own shoulder, lost uncertainty clear as day on his face.

The sight was enough to curb the simple confirmation borne in Atem's mind, and hone it into a softer, if still firm reply. "No, not if you are careful. You will learn… You simply have to learn to judge who you can, and cannot trust."

Though in Atem's opinion, most everyone in the palace fell into the second group.

But Sawheru looked less than comforted by his point, and the older prince… He had hesitated over stating his point too bluntly, but after a long, uncertain beat, frowning at Sawheru as he frowned at the wall, Atem shook off his own reservations and simply said it. "And, if that is what you want, it would probably be best if you sought out someone for yourself."

Sawheru- Turned and stared at him. He did not say a word, and yet the disbelief shone on his face as loudly as any scream.

And Atem ignored it, speaking on with the same even ease as before. "If you do that, you can decide for yourself if the person is as worthy of your trust as your attention, before risking anything. And if you take the initiative, you won't likely to be walking into a trap."

"Well, yes, but-" The words stumbled out of the boy without clear consideration behind them, and it seemed even acknowledging what Atem said was too much for him- For his face quickly changed color again, disbelief and humiliation warring for dominance of his face. "That, doesn't mean- I wasn't even _looking_ …"

"But you were intrigued enough by the prospect to follow her," Atem prodded, gentle but firm, refusing to even acknowledge Sawheru's distress. he was not any more comfortable with the subject, but it _had_ to be said. "Even if you don't act on those impulses, you should at least _acknowledge_ them and consider what you want, before someone else takes advantage of you- Someone like that girl."

Sawheru went very still, tense with the reactions bottled within him, but he was clearly _thinking_ about what Atem said… And his response, while defensive, was bound up in that fact. "That is so, matter-of-fact! If I did that, looked for someone with all of _that_ in mind… I would feel so _cold_."

He probably would. But that truth did not change Atem's opinion. It simply left his grim. "It is the only way to go about it that will soften the risk- The only way for _us_." Someone may always come along who liked Sawheru, simply for himself… But it was foolish, even _dangerous_ to forget who he was in the matter, for no one else would.

"Then… That's the way _you_ go about it?"

The question was not accusing- No. If anything, it was incredulous. Skeptical.

But it struck Atem all the same, his sober composure shot.

And Sawheru, turning with some word on his lips – some clarification, some demand – froze at whatever he saw on his face.

In one breath, Atem was instantly aware, yet uncertain of his own body, left doubting his sense of touch, his sense of hearing. That his face was forming the expression he was telling it to- That he _felt_ himself making.

That doubt left him tense, and he could do nothing but stare back at his brother, and watch the thoughts churn behind his violet eyes- Shock, and hesitance. "You… _Have_ done that yourself, right? …'sought', someone?"

It was impossible to mistake Sawheru's meaning, and really, it was only Atem's own probing turned back on him… But, where he should have displayed the same nonchalance he had expected from the younger boy, he instead found himself tongue-tied, stuck in a long, drawn out silence in an effort to cover his own discomfort… Until he finally fought back the reluctance and said "No" with little emphasis- Or feeling.

"-oh," Sawheru echoed, in a near perfect mirror of the Atem's flatness. But the question in boy's eyes sparked up as quickly as it died away, all the stronger for the disbelief behind it- The doubt in his own interpretation of his older brother's meaning. "Oh, then, you- You never… Wait-" The incomprehension stamped on his face might well have been _comical_ … If not for the unexpected exposure of it all, stifling Atem's breath. "…have you, _ever_ …"

It seemed Sawheru was too embarrassed to even ask directly, but watching him struggle proved far more excruciating for Atem than the idea of answering- So he did, as a simply as he could. "No, I never have." He gestured dismissively at nothing, more to give his restlessness an outlet than anything else. "I was simply taught that I should be careful who I chose from the court as a partner, if I ever _did_."

Sawheru, slowly shut his mouth, and fell flat on his back to stare at the ceiling, like it all didn't make sense.

It was probably just the contradiction of Atem's confidence and ignorance that prompted his confusion, but still he could not help but frown at his brother and ask, "-is it that surprising?"

"Well, _yes_ -" It was like something finally snapped. Sawheru rolled back to face Atem and his wary eyes straight on, searching confusion in his own gaze. "I mean, it was surprising enough to me when I came here and learned that you aren't even married yet."

…he, really should have seen that coming. It hadn't occurred to Atem, among all of the changes of late, that that might come as a surprise to the long banished prince. It was common practice for royals to marry as soon as they came of age, and yet here he was- A good two or so years passed that, still unwed.

But _that_ , at least, had a simple enough explanation, and he answered it readily enough once the surprise passed. "Father has been hesitant over what sort of match to make me. He might not show it, but he distrusts the court as much as I do… And if he chooses someone from outside of the court, it would cause a backlash from all sides. And if the bride were foreign-" Atem cut himself off there, but he could see the pained understanding flinch across Sawheru's face- The same awareness that plagued the elder prince, when he bothered to muse on the subject.

They both well knew the trials that would face a foreign queen in that palace.

That point, alone, might well have been enough to end the subject… And yet, beneath the harsh reminder Atem saw in his brother's eyes, he could still see confusion- Uncertainty. An awareness that something did not quite add up.

Atem had seen that look before, from others. Many had asked when he would wed, when he would start striving for heirs of his own… And most seemed to think the reasons for delay weak in the face of a dynasty on the brink of dying out.

In most cases, Atem simply ignored the looks and moved on… But, he also recalled the awkwardness that could arise from the dodge- The distance between him and those who wondered. The mutual awareness of his evasion sitting between them like a palpable distance.

Usually, he didn't care, but- The idea of chancing that, with _Sawheru_? It warred for a breath against his usual reluctance, until…

"…I, think he is also reluctant to 'force' a match upon me, even if I do not protest. He, did say that I could find someone of my own liking," Atem volunteered with little warning, drawing a surprised blink from his brother that he did not meet directly, choosing instead to focus on the gardens, visible through the doorway just beyond the bed. "If there was nothing truly inappropriate about my choice. Even political backlashes could be dealt with, after all… I just, _haven't_."

"But… You haven't found anyone?" There was some movement on the bed, and Atem glanced back to find Sawheru striving to sit up. The elder jolted to help him, impulsively steadying him until the boy sat upright. But Sawheru wasn't to be distracted by the struggle- he just kept peering up at him, questioning with his eyes as well as his words. "I mean, you could even _marry_ them, with Father's blessing, but… Even outside the court, traveling the length of the country, you haven't found anyone-? Not even someone you _considered_? No one who caught your eye?"

"No, no one." The answer came naturally, without thought, but the surprised doubt he saw in Sawheru's eyes prompted him to slow, to consider… To realize himself what he said. The weight behind the truth. "…no one."

"Oh…" That, was all Sawheru seemed capable of, but really, what was there to say? It was a strange truth, but true nonetheless, and where Atem lived that reality, it was new to his brother- Likely a new concept all together.

And one he apparently still did not comprehend properly, for Sawheru stumbled into another checking question. "-do you not, _like_ … women?"

Atem's eyes widened for the unexpected, almost refreshingly direct question, and answered with a simple "No, I don't."

" _Oh_ , so then you're- I-" One moment the boy was easing into a revelation, the next his cheeks burned again and his words caught, stumbling for clarity. "I mean, I know that some people _do_ feel that way. I even knew some priests, back in the temple…"

"-what do you mean?"

Sawheru tripped into silence as Atem stared at him, striving to piece together his meaning- But it wasn't difficult, and the boy's further ramblings only solidified his own presumption into fact. "Well they would, well- Devote themselves, to _each other_. And, if you are like that, if you like men-"

"I don't."

Sawheru snapped his mouth shut, a new wave of surprise crashing over him as they stared at one another. "…huh?"

What did it say, Atem pondered, that where Sawheru had been shocked before, disbelieving, he looked truly lost at _that_ claim?

Atem could not let himself think on it. He simply answered, mind and expression a blank fog. "I don't like _men_ either, Sawheru."

He watched the confusion process in his brother's eyes, turn and twist in on itself without outlet or satisfaction, all without any real thought or feeling of his own- Save an impulse to watch every twitch in the boy's face as he gathered his wits enough to speak… Or at least stumble and trip forward. "…you, you don't like _anyone_? I- I mean, I don't… You do know I don't mean _emotionally_ , right? I just mean… There's no one that's even _attractive_ to y-"

"No," Atem cut in, telling himself he did so simply to get to the point. He, did not, need to hear… _It does not matter_. He swiveled his gaze back to the trees in the courtyard. "I've never, felt like that, about anyone."

Silence followed, and with it rose the growing certainty that he should not have voiced such things. They were truths he had long kept to himself- Since he was barely of age, and realized that he never felt whatever it was that prompted people to _stare_ at each other like they sometimes did- With the look his brother gave that servant girl, or the focus Sawheru turned on those dancers. Atem had observed the same looks from countless souls around him, even been the _object_ of some of those looks, but… He had never known the sensation behind it. Never felt the longing he heard of in songs and tales.

It had been an easy enough secret to keep, and yet, when he had sensed it may come between him and _Sawheru_ \- After all of their efforts to understand one another? It just burst out into the open.

That didn't make it the right move, however, and when Sawheru finally mumbled "I, didn't know that was, possible…" all Atem could do was lift his shoulders and wave a hand, vague and sliding in the motion.

"Such as it is." He wanted to forget it- To move on. There was nothing to gain from this, and when Atem dared eye Sawheru directly, saw the hanging doubt in his face, he strove to dismiss the subject. "It does not matter."

"But, you aren't concerned about it? That you don't, want…"

"It is not required. As long as I fulfill my duties when Father finds me a bride – or brides - that is all I need do." He was healthy enough, that he knew. It might be… _awkward_ , and any marriage he formed would undoubtedly be one of obligation, not passion. But that was no danger to crown or country.

"Then, you don't plan to ever, take a lover?" The word burst new splash of color across the young prince's face, and despite himself, Atem felt a smile twitch at his lips. "You aren't interested in doing that?"

-it really was a wonder, how Sawheru's clear discomfort in asking acted as a balm against Atem's reluctance to answer. No, if _anything_ , he felt like the boy had earned some honesty with his courage. "I do wonder what the appeal is at times, and if I might discover it if I actively sought it myself," He allowed… But the ghost of a smirk at his lips died away, his manner left somber once more as he added, "But it would be foolish to risk such a thing for something as trivial as simple curiosity."

"…risk?"

They stared at one another for a breath, mutually searching the other's thoughts, until Atem nodded, shifting into a more comfortable position on his seat as he asked, "Have you ever heard tell of Simut? Our first brother?"

It was clear at a glance that the answer was _no_ , for beneath Sawheru's confusion of what _that_ had to do anything lay another layer, of wonder for the name. "…no. I thought Khamet, the son of Father's sister-wife Iset, was our eldest brother. Wasn't he the prince who died of a sickness before we were born, along with the others?"

"Yes," Atem confirmed, frowning a breath for the tragedy he had not been alive to witness, but certainly knew of. He saw the impact of it anytime those lost family members were mentioned in his father's hearing. The king had lost not only his heir Khamet in that plague, but two daughters – Takhat, Khamet's sister-wife, and Ahset, Akhenamkhanen's only remaining child by his own favorite wife, Meritamen… And with them went all three of the royal grandchildren. The heirs of the next generation.

The old pharaoh, then wifeless but secure in his dynasty, lost every remaining member of his family in a single stroke.

It was said that many thought he would disappear into his grief, and Akhenaden would have to take the throne in the end… But then, _their_ mother appeared.

But that was neither here nor there.

"Khamet was always the heir," Atem went on, "but he was not the first born. There was another brother before him. Siamun told me of him… Simut was born to a merchant's daughter Father fell in love with, just after he came of age." Sawheru's eyes widened in surprise, and really, Atem could not blame him. It had been a shock to him, too, hearing that their grand, ever-suffering father, had done something so impulsive and passionate at their age. The very idea was surreal…

But, the young Akhenamkhanen's story was one of caution, not daring, and Atem frowned as he went on. "But our father's father, King Ramose, worried that a child of common blood could never hold the throne… Not when the throne was so shaken by the wars. So he had Simut and his mother sent away, and pushed Father to devote himself to Iset."

It was clear this turn in the tale did not please Sawheru, but the name quickly distracted him into scrunching his brow, as he visibly tried to recall- "Khamet's mother… She was Father's first wife, right? The one who murdered Father's sons by their younger sister, Meritamen?"

"Yes." That was its own tale, though… For Father took Meritamen to wife the instant he ascended the throne, some ten years after Simut's birth. All knew that the young Princess Meritamen had been reserved for some political alliance of King Ramose's making, but Father kept her to himself. And the Great Royal Wife Iset grew jealous, feared her son Khamet would be set aside in favor of any boys Meritamen bore… So she killed them in the cradle, and covered the poisonings as infant sicknesses. When the truth finally came out with the death of the fourth babe, Father had her executed.

And then Meritamen died some months later anyway, in child bed.

Just like their mother.

 _So much blood spilt_ … And so much by those who should have loved each other- All over these feelings Atem did not understand, and to secure a crown that weighed on Father like a millstone.

"-what happened to him?" The question pulled Atem out of his daze, and he blinked questioningly at Sawheru until the younger clarified. "Simut."

" _Ah_ … I don't know." He shook his head, as much to banish his distraction as to answer. "Long dead, I am sure, or truly lost. Father would have surely brought him back to court if he could have- After his own father died."

"Would he have?" The question was soft, no more than a breath, but the frown didn't lift from Sawheru's face when Atem cocked a brow at him- No, he simply went on and explained, "Perhaps he feared he would be killed, like his other sons."

"…perhaps." He couldn't deny the possibility, after all… Iset was still alive then, and- The _court_ … It was hard to guess what their father might have thought on the matter. Atem knew he must have loved all of his children, as he loved them now, but he also knew the king thought first and foremost of the kingdom- And its needs always had to be weighed against what he wished for his own blood.

The proof of that had come, years ago, when he sent away Sawheru…

Atem had nearly lost his own point in the wanderings of his thoughts, but Sawheru proved that he understood his meaning, even after he himself forgot it. "…and, you don't want to even _try_ to be with someone – at least anybody without rank - because you're afraid to father a child like Simut- A son from a woman you can't make a queen." Atem met his brother's eye again, saw the awareness there… And a compassion that he would have never thought to look for. "Do you really think Father would send _your_ son away, for being common-born?"

"…no." Or, at least he hoped so- But with nothing likely to come to counter the claim, Atem chose to believe it. Still, he shook his head. "But I do think our grandfather may have been right, in a sense." Sawheru jolted, looked ready to sit upright in his shock and protest, but the elder raised his hand in a staying motion. "A son like that would struggle to hold the throne- And would likely live in fear all his life of a knife in his back- Or at his own family's necks. And a threat to the royal family is a threat to the stability of the kingdom… And I will not chance a child who may suffer, and share that suffering so widely- Not when I can spare that possibility so easily." Father would surely settle on a wife for him in time, after all, and those offspring would hopefully never face such dark possibilities. At least, not because of something Atem recklessly caused himself.

And, he could see his brother understood that… But still Sawheru stared at him, and the concern sparking in his eyes prompted a reassuring smile to rise naturally to Atem's face. "Do not worry, Sawheru. I do not mind- I truly do not wish for anyone in that way, remember? So it is no loss." The faltering in the boy's distress gave Atem the confidence to even chuckle lightly as he rested his arms back on his legs. "If it were only _that_ , I would simply choose my partner with a mind to avoid children."

"But-" Sawheru tried, only to stumble for his words- The combination of embarrassment and doubt flashing across his face sobering Atem's humor as he stared back at him expectantly. "Should- Should _I_ not-"

…Atem, slowly, smiled- Understanding rising with a dash of regret that he quickly sought to fix. "If you feel such needs, Sawheru, then you should not ignore them- At least, not as long as you trust the person, whoever he or she may be." There was perhaps a split second delay, and then the younger boy's uncertainty cracked under a reaction that left him stiff, _staring_ with no discernible emotion beyond shock- But Atem did not stall long enough to scrutinize it, or question. "And I cannot imagine Father minding. If you wish for that sort of company, that is your right- Though you may find it a struggle, as long as we're focused on solving the Pendant's puzzle, and are limited to the court." Even the servants that served them directly couldn't be put above suspicion, for bribery and spying were ever a threat to their privacy. Even that very conversation was not _truly_ confidential- The chance to speak softly to one another with only a guard or two within speaking distance was simply the closest thing they could hope for.

But, if the boy _could_ find someone? He should be free to. Sawheru did not need to worry for the succession as fervently as Atem did, after all. Even if something happened to him, the drama of having to hand the crown to Sawheru would likely mask any concern over his chosen mate or children…. At least, for a time. And the slight gamble did not come with the same certain risk Atem faced.

Still, Sawheru continued to look troubled, even after he nodded weakly and laid back again, frowning at the painted ceiling. And Atem left him to his thoughts, speaking only to check again if he would like water to be sent for- And falling silent when his brother refused once more.

No, it was only natural that the boy would have a lot to think about, between what had happened to him at the banquet, and the things Atem told him. And he must be exhausted, after having those drugs purged from him so violently… Deciding how to conduct himself with potential bedmates likely ranked rather low on his priority list at that moment.

And yet, when Sawheru finally chanced a glance at him again, and spoke? "-but, _you_ do not need intimate company? Of any sort?"

Atem, could only stare at him for a breath. Had he not already covered this? But before he could say so, Sawheru beat him to it with a weak shake of his head. "I know, you do not feel attracted to anyone, but I noticed- Even if you are friends with others here, no one has come to pass the time with you. Not outside of court business or studying or…"

The boy trailed off, and Atem- He couldn't think of what to say. That wasn't what he had expected to hear at all, and the sudden shift of the ground beneath him knocked him off balance.

Friends? He had friends. What, did-

Sawheru's expression slowly darkened, however, and when he asked "Is it, because I am here? Am I keeping you from others?" Atem knew he _had_ to speak- Whatever might come out.

"-no." He shifted again on his stool- Only to rise, and shift to his feet instead… Coming to sit impulsively at the foot of the bed, near Sawheru's legs as he frowned at the wall. "Mahaad used to travel with me when I was younger, and Mana with us. And they are both still precious to me, but there is little chance for us to be together now, and Mahaad is-" He, ran out of words, not knowing how to voice _that_ particularly distance.

Movement on the bed prompted him to look at his brother again, and he found Sawheru sitting up on his elbows, the better to look at Atem in his new position. His stare should have been unnerving- But instead Atem only felt an urge to lift the weight he saw in those violet eyes, however he might. "-I suppose Siamun may be free to travel with me soon, now that he has passed on the Key." He had theorized that much, at least.

But Sawheru remained unsatisfied. "But that's not the same, is it?"

…the same as what? Having a lover? Of course not- But Sawheru had already expanded to the idea of all emotional ties, so what was his point? "I know I can confide in any of them, if need be. I trust them, and they are there. …I do not see what this has to do with lovers or wives."

And he wondered if Sawheru himself understood what he meant, but clearly the boy was trying to make himself clear- Make some point. So Atem listened as he visibly, and verbally struggled to make it. "I just meant… Lovers, or close friends? They're both supposed to be people you can, be yourself with, right? Who won't just support you, but who you can be… Forthright with. Sincere. Someone you can share your fears with, and desires-" Sawheru had twisted his fingers into the fabric of the plain shendyt that he had been stripped to when he was put to bed, but the boy did not shy away from his own words. He stared directly at him as he spoke, all timidity lost to his earnestness. "Just… Someone, you don't have to be strong for all of the time, who you can show your heart to? Know that they will always support you without condition? Never have to worry what they will think of you…?"

Atem… he had long lost the ability to do anything but stare, breath caught, at the boy as he suggested such things. Sawheru was talking about, someone he could be _vulnerable_ with. That was exactly the sort of thing he had been told _never_ to be- Doubts were to be denied, not shared. Fears controlled and channeled, not voiced or vented. Even affections and desires should be tempered by necessity and a circumspect outlook. He had to think, at all times, how he came off to others- What sort of example he was setting.

And so, it was only natural that he answered, "No, I do not have someone like that." And he should not _have_ someone like that. Even if it were a wife, his entire role in life was tied up in how he related to others- As a leader. Even the king, the one person he could directly look up to, rather than be an example to, needed to see that Atem was a son he could trust to preserve his legacy. He needed to know that Atem would not drop the burden he would pass to him. A leader could not be vulnerable to those who needed his guidance.

It was simple, a point of fact, and Atem actively repeated it to himself, striving to press away the wonder that he felt at Sawheru's suggestions-

"-you could with me."

-Atem's thoughts, stopped.

He had been looking at his brother the whole time, with a stiff, guarded expression, so he could not deny the speaker. He also could not mistake the words, for Sawheru had said them steadily, staring directly at him, nothing but the simple sincerity of his offer in his gaze.

That didn't mean Atem had the words to reply, dazed as he was, and the silence stretched on until the younger boy's certainty wavered, and he fell quickly back into quiet ramblings. "I mean, I don't want you to feel alone, like you can't talk to anyone at all- And helping each other is what I am here for, and, I _want_ to know you, so…"

It wasn't that the older prince spoke, or motioned for him to stop. But, slowly the boy's anxiety faded away, and a quiet, uncertain smile formed on his face… To match the one that had sparked on Atem's own.

He knew the very concept was flawed, could prove a slippery slope, or might not _last_ depending on what became of them both, after they mastered the Pendant, but… Atem could not hide the fact that he understood- That, the thought, vague as it was, contrary as it was, appealed to him.

His confidence quietly restored, Sawheru went on, shrugging slightly with that curl still at his lips. "I just, wanted you to know… You can tell me anything, no matter what. I really don't mind." Something flickered in his gaze, and Atem's stomach clenched as he flashed back to just earlier, to Sawheru's shock when Atem told him, about himself. There was no proof that that was what Sawheru referred to right then, but- "And I'll help you however I can- Tell you what I think."

"…I see…" Atem finally managed, words short but a strange dizzy, light, tired feeling swam through his head and flowed through his voice. It was like standing up too fast, that jarring drag up into tentative delight.

He didn't know how to accept Sawheru's declaration. He still wasn't certain he _should_ , but- He settled on the fact that, at least, he would _like to_ …

Sawheru didn't seem to mind his silence, though. His grin was strained from the exhaustion he had long pressed back, but it was still there. Genuine. "Though, I can't promise much insight when it comes to palace intrigues… Obviously."

The reference to what had happened earlier- It should have disturbed the mood, but instead Atem could only smirk with a sniff, shaking his head. "No… You have something far better than skill at gossip or scheming. You have _sense_. The heart to care and the mind to consider what to do about it." He had seen that much from that first night at Karnak. No… Sawheru had been like that all along, hadn't he?

-the younger prince's smile did not grow, but it took on a new light, Sawheru's eyes shot through with a sharp exhilaration, a happiness tinged in pained relief.

It was sudden, and took Atem's breath away… But he recovered quickly as he watched the look soften, freeing him enough to reach back and grasp Sawheru's leg in a gentle hold, before patting it lightly. "Lie back down, you should be resting."

Sawheru bent his head, nodding mutely before he shifted to lie back on the bed, going still within a heartbeat as he obediently shut his eyes.

All things considered, Atem probably could have left at that point. Sawheru was clearly well enough, and he felt no more worry for his health. He could try to find the priests, and see if their search had turned up any leads on the servant girl or the culprit- Or if they were still blind to the hand that had sought to hurt them.

Instead he lingered in the room for some time in a soft, almost thoughtless haze, still perched on the edge of the bed, where he could stare at the younger prince's face… Completely mute and still save for one instance, not long after the sleeper shut his eyes, when Atem muttered "…thank you, Sawheru."

The boy did not reply, but for some time? Atem remained convinced he had seen Sawheru's lips quirk with a smile.

* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
\--

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Melinia_ – Mai  
_Shukura_ – Shizuka  
_Kasiya_ – Jounouchi  
_Hondo_ – Honda  
_Azizi_ – Anzu  
_Userhet_ – ?  
_Priest of Ptah_ – ?  
_Priest of Montu_ – ?

**Summoners & Spirits Seen**  
_\--_


	36. Special: Marbles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy (Belated?) Valentine’s Day! 
> 
> I had the urge to write something a little more festive for the holiday, so have something a little unique- A series of snippets of Atem and Sawheru!

**:: one ::**

“Wow, that was the fastest game of Mehen I have ever played!” Sawheru laughed as they took the game pieces from the board, setting them back into their wooden case. “You are really good. Do you play it a lot?”

“Of course,” Atem answered with the natural dismissal of a given reply, but a smile still ticked at his lips for the compliment. “I have played Mehen and Senet for years- Mahaad and I would pass our time between lessons on the river by playing one or the other.”

“Well that explains it, that- Wait.” Sawheru stalled in the midst of rising out from his seat, eying Atem with surprise. “Those two games- only? Did you not play others?”

“At times. It’s easier to play other games that requires pieces or boards here at the palace, where we have more resources at our disposal- But the court prefers gambling. Sports focused purely on luck, or physical feats.” Atem waved in a dismissive manner before leaning back in his chair, staring out across the garden where they sat together, playing a game to pass the time between puzzle struggles and dinner. “I prefer games that ask more of your mind than your body, or the gods.” 

“-I agree,” Sawheru replied without any real hesitance or emphasis, his gaze curious and thoughtful on the Mehen board when the older prince swerved his attention back to him. “That’s my favorite sort of game, too- especially if you have to solve puzzles or patterns to win.”

A grin spread across Atem’s face, but before he could speak up, Sawheru suddenly moved, picking up one of the marbles from the Mehen set as he asked, “Then, do you like count and capture games?”

“-I don’t know what those are,” the crown prince admitted, only to grow more intrigued when he saw how that pleased Sawheru.

“Then, I’ll show you some! I know a lot of variations. I learned some from the priests, and others from watching kids play in the market, and I bet you would like them, too! I just need to get a board made somehow- or have one located.”

“That should be easy enough.” Whatever Sawheru had in mind, after all, the boy’s enthusiasm for the idea was infectious, and Atem’s smile when the younger looked to him was as reassuring as it was confident. “We have merchants and craftsmen at our disposal in the palace. Just ask Siamun when he comes in the morning. He’ll connect you to whatever you like.”

“Really?” Sawheru asked, eyes wide with not-quite-daring excitement. “Just like that?”  
  
“Yes. _Just like that_.”

 

 **:: two ::**  
  
“So,” Atem mused out loud as he eyed the thing floating before him. “This is the spirit that helped you save the life of your guard.”

The pink blob blinked back at him.

“Do you like him?” Sawheru asked with a quiet wariness from where he sat, cross-legged on the ground between brother and spirit, watching as they measured each other up.

“He is curious,” Atem admitted, coming a step or two closer, but not quite daring to _touch_ as he inspected the creature. “What is he supposed to be made of?” Usually spirits mimicked reality in their way, but the prince had never seen anything like the substance that made up that spirit.

“I am not sure. I didn’t imagine his looks, and he just popped up when that man was attacking Kasiya. I called out for someone who could endure and protect others from any blow, no matter how cruel, and discourage them from attacking again.”

In Atem’s mind that would have translated to an armored bulwark of a beast with great strength, and yet- The fact that same concept had equaled _this_ creature in Sawheru’s mind was very intriguing to the prince. He had seen before, after all, that Sawheru could find solutions by very unique, yet effective methods.

So, he asked, “Would you like to battle me with him some time?”

He turned for the answer, only to stall at the shock on Sawheru’s face.

…of course. Sawheru had been so skittish about even _calling_ a spirit out inside of the palace, clearly caught on the memory of how he had been banished years ago. The idea of _battling_ , it must-

“Could we?” Sawheru barely dared to whisper, gaze skipping again and again to the doorway in fear of who might hear. But his eyes always came back to Atem with a quick, checking wonder. “I would like that, but… You would really want to fight me, like you used to the priests, when you trained?”

Atem nodded, “Not here, but yes. Out in the desert, or down in the dungeons sometime? If we got the right people to keep watch, and to warn us if anyone came too close…”

It was foolhardy, pointless in its own way to take such risks. But one look at Sawheru’s smile, and Atem was back by their mother’s pool, sharing the secrets of spirit calling for the first time.

There was no doubt in his mind.

 

:: **three** ::

“Atem? Are you there? Sorry if I’m-” Sawheru’s voice caught on a breath.

Atem turned on his stool to see the boy staring at the knife he was holding.

“Sawheru?” he asked in a quiet, coaxing tone, waiting until those violet eyes rose to his before asking, “You couldn’t sleep either?”

“No, I guess not… What are you doing?” he asked outright, once the shock ebbed and his gaze moved beyond the knife to the table Atem sat at, and the strange implements and materials laid out on it.

Atem held up the soft white material in his other hand- the thing he had been cutting when his brother walked into his work study, likely finding him by the light of the candle he worked by. “I am sculpting wax.”

“Wax?” Drawing up closer, Sawheru stared curiously down at the shape, but he only recognized it when Atem set it down on the table top. “Is that a ring?”

“It will be. I am trying to design a signet ring. See?” Atem turned the wax mold in the light until Sawheru could see the fine hieroglyphs cut into the flat surface of the ring top… And the boy smiled.

“That is Father’s name.”  
  
“Yes, I was going to give it to him on his name day.”  
  
“That is amazing... Then, you really know how to make jewelry?”

“Sculpt it, at least.” Atem set the ring aside, finding his focus thoroughly distracted- but not really minding. “I still have a lot to learn about the process of turning the model to metal, though, and my work is nothing next to the royal goldsmith’s. He is a master artist.”

“Still, if the actual ring turns out as fine as that mold…” He didn’t finish, but the wonder Atem saw in Sawheru’s face when he looked up at him was enough to warm the older prince’s mood.

And so, when Sawheru asked, “Would you keep working? I’d like to watch…” Atem merely shrugged.

“If you like.”  
  
They said little after that, as Atem focused on his work and Sawheru pulled up a stool to watch the process like it was the most engaging of spectator sports… But the silence was a comfortable one, and both were shocked when the dawn called an end to what their exhaustion did not.

 

:: **four** ::

“It _has_ to be around here somewhere!”

“Of course it is! Just keep looking! We just can’t leave any inch unturned, and we’ll-”

“Prince Atem? Prince Sawheru?”

The two boys froze, and looked up to see Priest Mahaad standing on the steps leading out of their private courtyard, frowning as he looked down on them… Kneeling in the sand.

“The pharaoh is in a meeting with the High Priest of Ptah from Menefer, so he asked that I escort you – with the Pendant – to his rooms, to protect you and veil the state of the Item, if you have not solved it.”  
  
“Please tell Father that we will be happy to join him,” Atem said without barely a hitch or a breath, “But we already sat down to our meal, so we will need a few minutes to finish, and cleanse ourselves to be presentable in his presence.”

…The priest looked uncertainly between the boy princes and the table set up among the sand- covered not in food, but golden puzzle pieces.

“My prince?”

Atem reached back to clutch Sawheru’s hand behind his back, stilling the shaking in his fingers without ever breaking eye contact with his friend and priest. “Mahaad, _please_.”

He could see the shock flash across the man’s face… But in a few moments the priest bowed to him, and the prince grew dizzy with silent relief.  
  
“Of course, my prince. I will return in a few moments, when you are finished eating.”  
  
Atem did not answer, even enough to thank him, but simply waited in silence until the priest disappeared back inside the palace.

The fingers caught in his squeezed back. “Atem…”

He just shook his head, letting go as he turned with a steadying stare into Sawheru’s eyes. “It isn’t much, but it is the best we can do… We just have to use the time it bought us.”

Sawheru nodded, saying nothing… But, like Atem, he spoke his gratitude with his gaze- before diving back down to his knees.  
  
Atem followed, scraping his fingers through the sand in search for that last, missing puzzle piece.

The last one that had disappeared when the traps of the Puzzle made Sawheru jump and hit the table in his confusion, scattering the pieces all around them.

“Look!”  
  
Atem shot up, looking to his brother and following his pointing finger… to the pool.

A flash of gold blinked up at them from its depths.

“Of course,” the prince breathed, shaking his head with the obvious answer they kept missing in their hunt in the nearby sand.

“It must have bounced into the water… If we just- Hey!” Sawheru cut himself off with a start, watching Atem strip off his linen and dive into the pool in one fluid motion.

A bare minute later, Mahaad strolled back into the prince’s private courtyard… Only to stop as he realized what he was seeing.

The younger prince, sitting at the water’s edge, one fist clutched tight about something, his face red as he peered at the priest over his shoulder… and the elder, lounging _inside_ the pool, with his arms and head resting on the pool edge, just at his brother’s knee.

The three stared at each other a long moment, until Mahaad observed in a flat, simple tone, that “When you said you were going to cleanse yourself, your highness, I did not think you meant it so literally.”

Atem cocked a brow at him, the smirk on his face only growing when Sawheru buried his face in his hand and shook with muffled laughter.

 

:: **five** ::

“So then I pick up all of the marbles in the pocket I dropped the last one into, and start the process over again?”  
  
“That’s right!” Sawheru confirmed as Atem slowly followed the instruction, sprinkling the balls across the game board as his brother explained, “The goal is to have the most marbles on your side in the end, so you want to pick where you start from with that in mind.”  
  
“So I don’t want to end up landing in an empty pocket with my last marble, because then my turn will be over, and I get fewer marbles.”  
  
“ _Exactly_!”  
  
Atem smiled for the enthusiasm behind that single word, listening as Sawheru went on with his tutorial, explaining how a player should also think about how they are setting up the board for their opponent’s turn, and how all of the strategy is thus caught up in how you start your turn… But eventually the boy trailed off, and rather prematurely, so Atem’s gaze flicked upward to find Sawheru staring at the board with a strange sort of wonder in his eyes.

“…What is it?”

“Huh? _Oh_!” Sawheru belatedly knocked himself out of his distraction, laughing self-consciously as he reached down into one of the pockets on the board. “It’s just, this is a _really_ nice set! I know the woodcraftsman made the board especially for us, and these marbles were just bought as a separate set, but usually I see people play this game with seeds and an outline of a board in the sand!”

“I’m not surprised, the concept is easy enough to imitate without special game pieces, at least from the game play you’ve shown me.” But, that really wasn’t the point- Atem could see that in the way Sawheru handled the glass beads.

And it reminded him- the set he had seen in Sawheru’s own home had been simple clay…

“…Say, did the set they bought for this game come with extra marbles?”

“…What? _Oh_ , yes. I think the extras are in a bag in my room.” Sawheru frowned thoughtfully at him, no displeasure behind the look- Just simple curiosity. “Why?”

Atem shrugged, hiding a smirk behind the fingers of the hand he leaned on. “No reason.”

 

:: **six** ::

“And then Menmaatre Ramesses told his sweet, voluptuous wife, Tentamun, that the Viceroy of Kush had disastrously-”

“ _That’s five,_ ” Atem mumbled, quietly as Siamun continued his lecture from memory, smiling out at the birds gathered in the courtyard trees as he spoke- and missing how his two charges were mumbling to one another right in front of him.

Sawheru just shook his head- not in discouragement of the comment, but in refusal to meet the unspoken invitation to take back his bet.

They had been listening to Siamun’s lectures on their great-great-grandfather, Rameses XI, for a good twenty minutes at that point… and when the former priest opened the tale of the royal necropolis being moved away from the artisan village of _Set Maat_ with details of the ‘lovely curves’ of the priestess who encouraged the transition, Atem had mumbled to Sawheru that they would hear about the beauty of other princesses and priestesses at least half a dozen times before the lecture was over.

Sawheru had disagreed, saying that whatever Siamun’s habits, he would likely not lecture them undisturbed by business long enough to fit all of those references in.

And thus a bet started.

Two more mentions of lovely priestesses, details of the fine neck of a woman reporting the tomb robbery of her father to the pharaoh’s court, and a strange sidebar about Hatshepsut later, they had reached five mentions. One more and Atem would have won… nothing, technically, save the reward of a little excitement shared with Sawheru.

But then, he had that whether he won or lost.

“But of course, the new king was close to his sister, the wife of the High Priest of Amun, and she… What is wrong, your highnesses?”

“Ah-” Atem stiffened, uncertain if it was he or Sawheru or both of them that drew Siamun’s suspicious eye. Had he noticed the shared glance or the sudden catch of breath when the priest introduced yet another new lady to the story? “Nothing, carry on.”

“No, that is alright, I can finish the story tomorrow morning. I should prepare for the throne room gatherings this afternoon,” Siamun announced, standing slowly with a groan and pop of his back- while Sawheru shot Atem a smile that the older boy could only shake his head and grin for.

The look froze on his face, however, when Siamun said, “Though, if I could have a word alone with you, Prince Sawheru? Your father has a request he wishes me to share with you” with a telling hesitance.

Sawheru looked to _him_ as if for answers, but Atem could only eye him back with the same surprise.

That confusion only scattered as he obligingly left the room, his heel catching on the threshold as he heard just enough of the conversation to understand… and his expression sobered under the weight of that knowledge.

 

:: **seven** ::

“Sawheru?”

Atem had hesitated too long there, at the edge of the pool, but even after he managed to call the boy’s name silence lingered in the air.

Even floating in the waters Sawheru managed to stay perfectly still, his head and chin resting on folded arms as he leaned against the stone edge.

The position hid his face from the older prince, and all he could do was press forward with a simple “I assumed you would be gone for the night.”  
  
Sawheru shook his head without looking up, the stiffness of his manner finally tipping Atem’s mood into suspicion- and a low simmering outrage. “Did something happen? If the girl was rude to you, or made you feel uncomfortable, then-”

“No!” It was like the boy’s agony popped, burst forward from its contained bubble as Sawheru looked straight up into his face- and what Atem saw punched the breath right out of him. “It wasn’t her! _I_ upset _her_ , because I didn’t know what I was doing! T-they tried to explain beforehand, but I couldn’t… I guess I didn’t…”  
  
Slowly the boy looked back down, sank low in the water, and Atem… Atem couldn’t move. Didn’t know what to say.

What _could_ he say? He… He had no knowledge in this area. No insight to share. No idea what might have gone wrong, or would might excuse it. _Sawheru_ certainly must understand more than he did, after that… _Atem_ was, for once, the ignorant one.

And so he had nothing to say… at least, until Sawheru started talking again.

“One of the attendants came in, afterwards… she said that she - the girl, Nafrit – was fine, she was just nervous, too, but… I just, felt bad… that I didn’t, feel _worse,_ for her.” The words were choppy, broken, but with them came a slow comprehension of what truly troubled the boy- and the doubt in Atem’s gaze slowly faded into sympathy.

“We did _that_ , and I saw she was upset, and… I didn’t feel any worse for her than, than if she was someone who needed help in the market. Someone I had never _met_ before.” 

“That follows,” Atem answered, words smooth and assuring and insistent. And Sawheru did not look up, but he _did_ go still, said nothing else, did nothing as Atem slid out of his shoes and sat down just beside him, letting his toes drift on the water. “You _are_ strangers, after all. And she was picked out for you, not your own choice. It is natural that you would feel nothing beyond your natural compassion for her… and, if you wish to convey sympathy to this Nafrit, you can always show her some sign of favor, assure her you bare her no ill will. If you do not know what upset her, then she may simply fear that she displeased you.”  
  
“I thought of that,” Sawheru said quietly, without any sign of raised spirit. “I wanted to assure her somehow. Tell her, or give her a note, once I calmed down. But Siamun said that I cannot interact with any women of the harem save… _officially_.” Atem could swear he heard a blush in his voice, but he couldn’t confirm that when Sawheru wouldn’t look up. “I don’t want to meet her like _that_ again, not without… making certain I’m not scaring her somehow. And there is no way she would admit it when we meet like _that_.”

“No, likely not,” Atem agreed, musing over the conundrum until another solution occurred to him… But _that_ way? He first had to check… So, eyeing Sawheru’s profile out of the corner of his eye, he asked, “Did you dislike the, _point_ of the visit?”  
  
Sawheru’s head shot straight up, spraying water across Atem’s lap that he ignored in favor of the wide, round eyes focused on him- and the beet red blush creeping up the boy’s face.

Ah, then _that_ wasn’t the issue.

Despite himself, Atem grinned a little.

“Then,” he started, sliding over the silent answer he didn’t need verbalized to make his point. “Why not ask for another girl? Not only will a second attempt hopefully go smoother, Nafrit may catch wind of it if you have no issues with future visits. Then, she will feel more assured when you call on her again. Or, if you do not wish to call on her at all, or rely on other visits to make your point, you could send word to her _through_ one of the other girls you visit.”

“…That’s…” It wasn’t instant, but slowly the distress and embarrassment ebbed from Sawheru’s skin tone, and his expression. “That might, actually work. I _was_ told Father would like to me to visit there when I can, as long as it doesn’t distract from the Pendant. So either way, I have to make visits.”

Atem had expected as much, and thus had no open reaction to that information. He simply nodded in answer before adding, “Then, does that ‘solve’ the issue for you?”  
  
“I suppose so…” He was still shaken up, that much was clear, but he seemed far calmer… and if Atem wished to give it that night, it was as good a time as any. Perhaps it would even take Sawheru’s mind off of the matter.

So, Atem went ahead and gave his order. “Put out your hand.”

The boy’s eyes shot up, questioning, but when he read nothing but a simple calm in Atem’s face he obliged with nothing but an open curiosity that only grew once Atem reached out to drop something into his hand.

“A ring?” Sawheru pulled himself out of the water to sit at the edge beside him, turning the small golden circle over in his hands until it caught the moonlight. “Is this the one you made for Father? It… wait…”

Atem said nothing, simply watched the confusion and reconfiguration of thought in his brother’s expression until, finally, the shock of realization burst to life.

“This is a marble set in… is this from my game set?”

“One of the extra ones you had, yes.” A swirled glass ball of shifting blues, picked out by Atem, taken from the marble bag Sawheru kept in his room, and set in a thick golden band Atem designed and had ordered from the goldsmith.

And the result set in Sawheru’s hand.

“You had this made for me?” The answer was obvious enough, but the _real_ question was in Sawheru’s eyes when he looked up at him- _Why_.

Atem shrugged. “It occurred to me… I thought it would be a good way to thank you for showing me that game. Do you like it?”

“It's beautiful,” he answered, with the weight of simple sincerity only _Sawheru_ could manage.

And with that muscles Atem had not even been conscious of relaxed.

They said nothing for a breath, both of them watching the younger finger his new ring, but finally Sawheru broke the quiet with a soft, “Would you like to play that game with me again? Not tonight, I mean, but tomorrow, after we are finished with the puzzle for the day?”

Atem finally turned to look at Sawheru straight on, openly scrutinizing him with a soft sort of wonder before asking, “I thought you would be seeking out that second girl tomorrow night.”

If he had had any fear of the mention upsetting the boy again, he need not have worried. Sawheru shook his head without a single sign of distress, a ghost of smile on his face. “I need to do that soon, but, I don’t have to right away… and I’d rather play with you.”

That same wonder shone in Atem’s eyes… but it slowly warmed, a mirroring smile playing at his own lips.

“I would be happy to play with you.”

  


* * *

**Ancient Egyptian Terms**  
_Mehen_  – The modern version of the snake game was played with lion pieces and marbles as dice.  
_Mancala_ – Sawheru didn’t call it by name, as it definitely wouldn’t be called Mancala then, but variations of that game were played in Ancient Egypt  
  Menmaatre Ramesses – i.e. Rameses XI, the last historical king of the New Kingdom. Semi-accurately portrayed in GwD, as here he had a son and his line managed to survive, at least down to Atem/Sawheru  
_Kush_ \- a province of Ancient Egypt in Lower Nubia  
_Set Maat_ – Ancient Egyptian name for Deir el-Medina, an ancient Egyptian village which was home to the artisans who worked on the tombs in the Valley of the Kings

 **Original Egyptian Incarnations**  
_Sawheru_ – Yuugi  
_Kasiya_ \- Jounouchi

 **Summoners & Spirits Seen  
**_Sawheru_ \- Marshmallon


	37. Chapter 37

“-Atem? What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer.

That was expected, but still… Seeing him standing there, his back turned to her, not moving at all?

It made Anzu’s stomach turn.

Within a few moments she found the switch and the light burst on in the living room. Atem did not react to the shift, continuing to gaze out of the balcony door window- But clearly seeing nothing. His reflection drowned out the view of the city the moment the light came on, but he just didn’t notice.

“What are you doing out here again? What keeps drawing you there… Were you looking at the palace?” she asked, striving to keep her words light, calm, unstrained as she closed the distance between them.

He didn’t look up, even as she looked directly at him, searching for something- _any_ sign of awareness. Emotion. Recognition.

But no- If anything, what shadow of life Anzu swore she saw in his eyes drained away as his own reflection blocked his view of the ruins below.

“…how do you even know it’s there- Think to find it, if you can’t even see _us_?”

He didn’t answer. She _knew_ there would be no answer.

He was just a ghost.

“Atem, I don’t care if you can’t help it or not, if you don’t get your butt back in bed-” The clogged grumblings tripped to a halt as Jounouchi stumbled into the living room, only to find more than just a game king before him. “Ah-” he started, only to drop all efforts at coherent comment when Atem turned, crossed the room, and swept silently passed him in one smooth motion… For all appearances, going to bed, just as Jounouchi suggested.

Anzu watched him go without comment, a fatigue that had little to do with a lack of sleep seeping into her bones and weighing her tongue down against any protest when Jounouchi gave her barely a look before darting after their friend. She listened to their footsteps fade down the hall… And when they disappeared, she opened the balcony door and stepped out to stare at the only sight that seemed to draw any life from her lost friend.

Two weeks… Two weeks, since they went to that museum.

Two weeks since Rishid and Malik joined the others in the hospital- the first with a fractured skull, the second caught in that strange coma.

Two weeks… Since Atem disappeared.

He wasn’t _gone_ , literally speaking- She had just seen him after all. He was in the apartment, wandering through the hall with Jounouchi trailing after him… But he wasn’t there, with them.

He had said those strange words, held his hand out towards that stone tablet, and then- Nothing. _She_ saw nothing, and neither had Jounouchi or Honda.

And yet Atem had gone limp, straightened himself before any of them could reach him- And faded away. Went numb, mute, and seemingly deaf to all they said. They called him, and he would not turn to them. They stood in his way, and he would not look at them. They shook him, and he didn’t even flinch.

Anzu would have thought it a strange, walking coma, except he was oddly aware of what he _should_ do. He walked the direction they turned him. He ate the food they put before him. He washed, dressed, and put himself to bed- Even followed directives of the simplest variety. There was just… No _life_ behind any of it. Nothing but the most mechanical of instincts.

 _It’s like his mind is still here, but his spirit… It’s gone_. Or at least, it felt very, _very_ far away… Isis theorized it was only locked within him somewhere, or inside that pendant he never took off, shaped like the sun. Isis thought he must be doing something- Fighting something within, or seeking something… Just as how Anzu and her friends had once hunted through the maze of the Puzzle to find the doorway into Atem’s world of memory.

And perhaps… Perhaps, just maybe, he was looking for Yuugi? Would finally find him?

Maybe… But there was just no way to _know_. And anyway, even if it were true? Wherever Atem was, it was out of her reach- Out of her hands to help him.

 _So what am I supposed to do?_ The question echoed in her mind as she stared out over the flickering nightscape of Luxor… And as always, no answer presented itself. Nothing but Isis’s own suggestion echoed through her mind.

 _Wait_.

“-there you are.” Jounouchi stepped out beside her, scratching the side of his head with rough fingers.

Anzu turned to him with a worried edge to her gaze. “-is he asleep?”  
  
“Something like that,” he sighed as he dropped his hands, stuffing them in his pockets as he frowned over the city lights. “He never shut his eyes, but he’s staying put, staring at the ceiling- He was mumbling something, but I couldn’t understand a word of it.”

“-the usual, then.” Jounouchi hummed in answer, and Anzu followed his gaze… And they let the silence hang.

Before she could find the words to try and break it, a knock and footsteps sounded from behind them.

“Is everything alright?” Bakura asked as he dropped his hand from the doorframe and trailed after his companion, who had a question of his own.

“Yeah, we heard you stomping around downstairs. What’s going on?” Honda glanced between them, his frown going from concerned to grim as Jounouchi huffed.

“Ah, it’s just Atem! He started wandering around the house again.”

“-still, it’s a surprise you even noticed. Was he really that loud about it?”

“Ah, er…” Jounouchi stumbled for words, shooting a glance Anzu’s way that she could only throw back at him… At least until a certain point struck her, and she narrowed her eyes at the other two boys. “And what about you? I watched Jounouchi-kun and Atem walk away- They weren’t making a lot of noise. Definitely not enough to notice upstairs, _if_ you were asleep.”

“…er…” Honda stumbled, but where he, and Anzu, and Jounouchi had all hunted for excuses, Bakura simply shook his head with a quiet “We couldn’t sleep…”

And none of the others could counter _that_.

“-well, since we’re up anyways, should we just grab something to eat and hang out in the kitchen?” Jounouchi suggested as he looked between the group, clearly trying to move on before they all settled into the funk mutually threatening them. “Atem wasn’t sleeping, like I told Anzu- I could go grab him and we could look after him together while we talk- Be there if he actually wakes up!”

“Wakes up, eh?” Four heads swiveled about at the voice- And four forms instantly tensed as they spotted Amanda Mitchell glowering at them from the doorway. “What’s ‘Atem’ have to ‘wake up’ from, if he’s not even sleeping?”

“Uh- Hey, Mana! I just, meant-” Jounouchi started, only to be cut off by the small blond poking a finger right at his nose.

“Don’t even try it, Jounouchi-kun! I know you’ve been hiding stuff from me- Everybody’s been _weird_ for weeks, and now I finally know _why_!”

“W-what do you mean, Mana-chan?” Anzu asked, striving for a confused smile. She knew Mana must be suspicious, as Anzu and her friends had struggled to keep the girl out of their conversations and away from Atem for weeks, with limited success… But how could she possibly know the full story? No matter what she overheard, there was no way she could have simply _guessed_ the truth!

“What I _mean_ ,” Mana began, dropping her finger to cross her arms, prompting a ‘phew!’ from Jounouchi that she ignored in her ire. “Is I finally got Kuroi-sensei to tell me what is going on. I knew he had to know something after he spoke to Mutou Yuugi in the hospital, and I was right! He told me everything!”

“-and, what is ‘everything’ exactly?” Bakura asked with a slow, tentative edge, prompting everyone to look to him. “If I am correct, Kuroi-san is uncertain on a number of points, as well. Ate… _Yuugi_ -kun, said that Kuroi-san only knew of the duels.”

“Exactly! He said that you guys were caught up in some weird mission and fighting _demons_ , with _Duel Monsters_! That people had died, and Jeu and everybody are in comas, and Yuugi-san is a zombie all because of _magic_.”

That… Anzu could only stare, aware of her friends doing the exact same without having to look.

Why was that so accurate, even as it was so wrong?

“Uh, something like that,” Jounouchi started, only to cough when Anzu elbowed him in the arm and glared at him. Was he not even _thinking_ to try and deny it?! Jeu and Atem had wanted to keep her _out_ of it!

With the cat almost completely out of the bag, though, Bakura went ahead and let it loose. “The truth is far more complicated than that,” he shared, shutting his eyes in his awkward grin. “But, it’s close enough that I would hope you understand why we didn’t tell you… We doubted you would even believe us, and claim we were lying.”

“- _do_ you believe it?” Honda asked, prompting a curious focus back on the girl in question, her earlier ire already visibly doused beneath stiff frowns. “I mean, it’s kind of crazy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it _is_ \- But…” Mana looked off towards the ruins as she folded her arms a little tighter, her stance suddenly far more self-comforting than defensive. “I can’t wrap my head around it, but, after everything… The weird comas, and deaths, and Atem there, Jeu’s behavior before and _Kuroi-sensei_ of all people believing it, even if he knows like nothing… What am I supposed to think?”

“-most of the time, we don’t really get it ourselves,” Jounouchi admitted, visibly beginning to relax as they continued to talk without any more signs of hostility or accusations. “We’ve been just kind of rolling with it for years, ever since we found out there were _two_ Yuugis, and one of them was a spirit from a golden Puzzle.”

“……huh?”

In retrospect, Anzu wasn’t sure _how else_ Jounouchi could have expected her to react.

Seeing him struggle, she jumped in herself with a smile, striving to reassure. “What he means is, we get that it’s hard to believe, but once you see it for yourself… But, you really haven’t, yet.”

“I’ve seen Yuugi-san.” With that one, sad counter, the tentative lightness among the group crashed back to the ground, and stayed there as Mana trailed on. “I’ve seen how he’s acting, and know it makes no sense without something _weird_ behind it… And I’ve seen Jeu. I’ve listened to her doctors try and smooth over what happened to her, that they can’t explain it. The only real explanation I’ve had at _all_ , is this magic story.”

“Yeah… I got hit with the same magic she did.” Mana’s head shot up at Jounouchi’s confession, staring at him wide-eyed as he glowered down at the ground between them. “I just got lucky, and didn’t lose as many life points as her, so I didn’t get knocked out by it. It still hurt me, though, too.”

“That’s right- You were wearing long sleeves and scarves that whole week after you brought Yuugi-san back! You were covering up bruises, weren’t you?”

“Told you she didn’t buy that,” Honda grumbled, as Bakura focused an accommodating look on Mana.

“As you see, we might not know everything, but we have _some_ knowledge- And since you know this much already, you might as well ask us whatever you like.”

Anzu tensed at the suggestion, eyeing her white-haired friend but not saying anything- And certainly not elbowing him. But the fact remained, a restless flutter ran through her at the idea of so flagrantly ignoring the wishes of those who weren’t there to protest. Shouldn’t they at least try to mitigate what Mana knew? She wasn’t sure what Jeu or Atem’s thinking had been, but they had been adamant about walking lightly around the girl.

That didn’t mean she had a way to stop it though, when the girl posed her question.

It wasn’t even the question Anzu had expected, though… She had thought, surely, Mana would start with that comment about ‘two Yuugis’ or who all of them were or how they were connected to her and her cousin or what they had to do with Jeu’s collapse- Instead, all Mana had to say was “Can you save them?”

-they all blinked at one another for a long moment, until Anzu broke the silence with a slow “…you mean, Pegasus-san, Malik-kun and Jeu-chan?”

Mana nodded, her jaw stiffed as she looked earnestly – hopefully – around at all four of them.

Anzu’s throat closed up against any further answer, and she knew the silence was dragging on too long, into an air of fear- despair- without another word being said… But just as she saw the hope dying in Mana’s eyes, Jounouchi spoke up- That familiar firmness in his voice.

“That’s what we’re looking to do, Mana.”

“-really?” the girl breathed, torn between suspicion and relief that only teetered toward the latter when Bakura nodded his head.

“We’ve been trying to find our own friend all along, but helping the three of them is just as important to us- We’ve been trying to figure out how to help… ‘Yuugi-kun’ wake up, and how to find the one who used that magic against our friends. Malik-kun and the rest were harmed by the magic of a being called The Devourer- Isn’t it natural that our best bet to help them, and stop the magic, is find and the cause directly?”

“-yeah, I suppose so,” Mana hesitantly agreed, and Anzu could only stare at her with knowing sympathy. That uncertainty and blind run of logic was all they had to go with, too, after all.

But it seemed Mana didn’t fully understand that, for she quickly burst back to life with a “Then, I want to help you, too! How are we fighting him?” She looked between them, an eager smile on her lips… That quickly faded as she saw their expressions, and how they were looking at each other.

“We uh, don’t know where he is,” Honda admitted, shuffling awkwardly on his feet as he glowered away from them all. “Or how we’re supposed to stop him.”

“We’ve been trying to figure that out for ourselves,” Bakura explained in his stead. “But we don’t even know who he is, I’m afraid. Or what he’s done to our friends.”

“-then how are you doing anything?!” Mana exclaimed, unseeing and careless in the face of the flinches she prompted. “You’ve been here for weeks, and people have been dropping like flies, and you haven’t found out anything?!”

“There just aren’t enough clues,” Bakura strove to explain, but Anzu couldn’t directly watch the conversation anymore- She just stared at her own hands, striving to bite back the feeling that had brought her out to the balcony in the first place- Distantly aware of Jounouchi turning his back to them, just beside her. “We have a friend… Isis-san, who was researching things with your cousin? The best chance we had at a clue was this strange chamber your cousin showed us, with writings on the wall about The Devourer- But they’re just too vague, with no context. Isis-san told me she can’t get any more out of them… And there’s just no one else to ask. Nowhere else to look.”

“-that’s, not exactly true.”

Everyone slowly turned questioning eyes on the one who had spoken, his words slow and blooming with an idea that had clearly just occurred to him.

“-what do you mean, Jounouchi?” Honda asked, narrowing his eyes critically.

Jounouchi turned around in the same beat that he answered. “That first chamber, the one Yuugi and Atem fought in.”

Mana wasn’t the only one who stared cluelessly.

“…the one that collapsed?” Anzu asked, going on only once Jounouchi nodded in answer. “The Ishtars and their clan have been involved with that place for a while. Wouldn’t Isis-san know if there was anything to find there?”

“That’s just it-” Jounouchi smirked as he held up a finger. “She didn’t know to look before, right? Not for The Devourer. So maybe there’s something there we’d only get now that we know about him!”

“But, didn’t the place collapse?” Honda asked, only for Bakura to answer in Jounouchi’s place, tentative but voice rising with mounting clarity.

“Yes, and Jeu had it excavated… I never asked her how far they got with the project, but we know they found the Items again-”

“And that _Banoub_ guy took them,” Jounouchi pointed out, a grin practically cracking his face and making Anzu’s own heart beat faster with nervous hope for the path he laid out before them brick by brick. “He worked on that excavation, right? So we know somebody working for The Devourer was down there- _And_ looking for the Items, and we still don’t know why they wanted _them_ to begin with!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mana piped in, but with a lightness that showed she wasn’t demanding answers. No, she didn’t need the details- She just wanted them to skip to the point, because she could tell she’d like it!

As could Anzu, so she checked- “You think there might be something down there- Some clue to why they needed the Items or who _he_ is?”

“Maybe not, but it’s _something_ , right?” Jounouchi countered, and as one they all slowly started to smile with the realization that, yes, it _was_ something. Something for them to look into… To _do_.

 _Finally_.

“Then, what are we waiting for?” Mana asked, a grin splitting her face. “If there’s something to find there, let’s go!”

“-it’s after midnight,” Anzu remindered, expecting an easy draw back to reality- But instead she got Bakura musing aloud.

“Yes, but if we try to get in during the day, the crew may be there. We don’t know if the excavation stopped… The big concern is what to do about Atem.”

Anzu was a breath from asking what he meant, when the truth hit her in the gut.

That was right… They couldn’t take Atem out like _that_ \- He couldn’t leave the _house_ like that, much less walk through ruins into who knew what!  
  
The truth hit them all, caught them between the obvious solution and a simple dismissal of the whole plan, until Honda spoke up.

“I’ll stay with him.” He gave a weak grin as they all turned to him, shaking his head.

“You sure, man?”

“Somebody’s got to, right Jounouchi? So unless one of you is volunteering…” Honda looked to each of them, but Jounouchi and Mana frowned sharply at the idea, and Bakura looked thoughtful- But said nothing.

And when Honda looked at her- Well… Anzu did feel an anxious rush at the idea of leaving Atem behind, in that state, but the fact remained- She had felt the same burst of excitement and eagerness as the rest of them, when she realized what Jounouchi was suggesting.

And so- Anzu said nothing, and Honda moved on with a shrug. “Then that’s that- But what gets me is, whoever goes, I don’t know how you’re going to get into a place like that. Won’t it be locked up or guarded or something?”

“ _Oh_ -” came the instant reply from _Mana_ , of all people, an edged grin popping up on her face. “I can handle that.”

“-how?” Anzu asked, but Mana just shook her head and winked at her.

“Nuh-uh, you just leave it to me.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you did that,” Anzu hissed as soon as they were far enough down the stairs to think the guard above wouldn’t hear them. “What if he had run the card somehow, or shined his flashlight enough to really get a good look at you- Or what if he had known Jeu-chan is in the hospital right now?”

“Then I would have claimed I’d recovered and it wasn’t in the news yet!” Mana answered, not a sign of doubt or reconsideration in her voice as she pocketed the card her cousin had once used to get access to restricted sites. “It doesn’t matter- What would he have done, kicked us out? It was worth the risk!”

“It might not have been if we ended up in jail instead.”

“Eh, it worked. As long as we get in and out before they get suspicious, we should be fine,” Jounouchi threw over his shoulder noncommittally, prompting Anzu to focus her glower on _him_ instead.

It really was too bad Honda hadn’t come- He was good at calling out insanity like this, too.

But in essence, Jounouchi was right… And as they came to the bottom of the steps, the matter scattered from Anzu’s mind entirely.

The ceremonial chamber…

It had certainly changed since the first time she had seen it… A few pillars had toppled over, permanently destroyed, cracks and crevices ran through every surface, and equipment and poles could be seen in every corner, clearly waiting for the workers to return, or keeping the chamber from collapsing… But Anzu still a weight in her chest as she recognized the space, and recalled what had happened there.

It was too much… But the true crowning glory of the surreal sight was _the door_.

It had caved in- And beyond the opening that had once glowed with bright light, and swallowed their friend?

There was nothing but a dirt wall.

_Is that from the earlier collapse, or… Was that wall always there?_

_Did the door ever really lead anywhere?_

“So, this is where those ‘Items’ fell?” Mana asked as she leaned over the edge of the crevice that had swallowed the tablet and gold pieces.

The other three had done their best to quietly explain _everything_ to her in the taxi on the way there, everything from the years Yuugi spent trying to solve the Puzzle to Atem’s strange actions in the museum two weeks ago, but it was really all just too much to squeeze into a simple car ride. They had had no time for proper care of the details.

And that didn’t even considering the insanity of it all.

Jounouchi tugged Mana by the back of her shirt just as she looked ready to topple in, only to lean over in her place and flash his own flashlight about. “Yeah, this is it… And there’s definitely been somebody down there. There’s lights strung up along the sides, and there’s a rope ladder on the other side.

“That’s lucky,” Bakura replied as he finished his own stroll around the chamber and rejoined them. “I only took a quick look, but there’s nothing out of place up here- Well, there’s a lot missing now, but I didn’t see anything new, that I don’t recall from our first visit. And if there was some clue to be had from the old writings on these walls, I am certain Isis-san would have thought of it by now.”

“Probably,” Anzu admitted. The Ishtars had had access to this place for quite some time before they came to finish things in that ceremony, so Isis must know all that this chamber had to tell them on the _surface_ \- She was the one who explained the meaning of the writings about the door, after all.

 _Lay down his sword_ …

“So, we’re going in?”

“ _Huh?_ ” Jounouchi started, then stumbled anew as Anzu made the first move round the wide gap of the hole. “Wait, Anzu- You’re going first?”

“Not unless you beat me to it!” she countered, taking to the ladder’s edge with a determined edge to her face.

“Hey, wait up!” Mana bolted after her, Jounouchi right behind, but Bakura was still walking about unhurriedly when Anzu gathered her composure enough to drop down the first few rungs.

She ignored the darkness below as well as she could, but a few dozen or so steps down the anxiety started to creep up her back- Just as a voice above called out.

“Brace yourselves!”

“What-” Anzu squeezed her eyes shut against the blinding light that filled her eyes, tense as she clung to the ladder… Until she adjusted enough to squint out once more.

The string of lights lining the drop had turned on- And revealed they were nearly halfway down to what looked to be a plain heap of sand and dirt.

When she looked up, Anzu could just see a white head popping up over the lip of the hole, just above Jounouchi and Mana. “I found where to turn on the lights!”

“Good going, Bakura-san!” cheered Mana. “That darkness was creeping me out, and the flashlights just made it worse!”

“Hear hear…” Jounouchi answered with an iffy quake to his voice- Reminding Anzu suddenly that her friend was afraid of ghosts.

 _Honestly_.

“Come on,” she piped up, drawing all of their eyes to her- Only for Jounouchi to jolt when he saw the drop below her. “We need to keep going before our arms give out. Meet us at the bottom, Bakura-kun!”

“Will do!”

With that, the climbing recommenced and went smoothly the rest of the way- Until Anzu felt ground beneath her heel and she stood up on shaken feet to look all around her. 

She had feared from her earlier peek that all they would find there was a rounded out hole, with nothing but uneven dips in the ground where the workers found the Items, dug them out, and turned around and left.

Instead-

“ _Woah_ -” Jounouchi breathed as he touched down behind Mana and joined the girls in their gaping.

There were tunnels all- A good dozen of them!

Most of them did not open up before them, on the makeshift ‘ground floor’ of the hole- They started a few feet, or even a few yards above where they stood. One even started right _behind_ the ladder they had climbed down, and they never noticed it there in their focus to reach the bottom!

“What are they?” Mana asked, only to get mute headshakes as Jounouchi dared try and approach the sole opening at their eye level.

“No clue- Do you think the diggers opened these up?”

“I doubt it,” Anzu answered, tentative with awareness of her own ignorance on the matter. “They were looking for the Items, remember? And they must have been right here, beneath the chamber- And look,” she said, coming closer to point, using her flashlight as an extra shine to highlight right where the tunnel started. “That floor is dirt, too, but it’s packed all differently from the dirt out here- And there are drawings on those walls.”

“Woah, there _are_ ,” Mana breathed, rushing up beside them to marvel at the painted figures and hieroglyphs- Only to turn around and call over as they heard their fourth companion drop off of the ladder. “Bakura-san, get a look at this!”

“Oh?” he asked breathlessly, recovering his composure even as he walked over. “What is it…” The vague smile he wore died away as he saw what they had, a strange seriousness touching his expression. “I was afraid of that.”

“Huh?” Jounouchi looked between his friend and the tunnel with frowning confusion. “Afraid of what? We found something, didn’t we?”

“Yes… And I’m afraid what we’ve found is Atem’s tomb.”

“…eh?!”

Jounouchi dropped his flashlight as Mana gasped- But Anzu could only stare, and slowly turn her struck gaze back to the pathway.

_Atem’s…tomb?_

“Yes,” Bakura answered as he joined them properly, scrutinizing all he saw. “It makes sense, doesn’t it? Building it beneath the chamber itself.”

“I suppose…” Jounouchi answered, only to give way without protest when Anzu spoke up in his place, jerking herself out of the strange, surreal pain that had struck her.

“But, didn’t they already find his tomb? That is why all of his… things, were in museum exhibits.”

“Yes- I’d be surprised if there’s much left in the rooms,” Bakura replied, only to start walking into the space/ “But you never know- It seems almost too convenient, doesn’t it, that the dig necessary to find the Items again would open up a path for us like this? Maybe there’s a reason for it.”

A reason… There had to be a reason, right? Nothing could be such a coincidence… They were _meant_ to find this place-

The thoughts ran through Anzu’s mind with an odd insistence, as though they were not her own, or perhaps set off by something _even_ she did not consciously understand… But whatever the case was, something about Bakura’s words made her stall, and glance slowly about, to look up at the other paths.

They all looked the same from there… Shadowed pockets in a honeycombed wall, and yet-

Her eyes lingered on one alone, a good twelve feet up the wall on her left.

“Guys?”

Everyone stalled and turned back to her – she could hear that, even if she didn’t look – but when she didn’t go on quickly enough, Jounouchi called back. “What’s up?”

“I-” She didn’t know how to word it. There really was no logic to what she was doing, so all she could say was “Could we go down that path instead?” as she pointed to that particular hole, well aware that their baffled stares were completely reasonable.

“Why? This one’s right here.”

“I-” she stumbled, looking between the hole and them before settling on a weak “That’s what I mean… If there’s a clue hiding somewhere for us to find, isn’t it more likely in some place hard to reach? Like up there?”

“Eh?”

Jounouchi was clearly unconvinced, but as Mana stepped around him, looking between the hole and Anzu, _she_ asked, “What makes you think there’s anything in _that_ one, though? Lots of these tunnels are hard to reach!”

“I… It’s just a feeling.” And that really was all there was to it. Simple intuition- A feeling in her gut all the stranger for its lack of reason.

She watched her friends eye one another, and just when she was ready to shake it off and dismiss it herself, Bakura slowly nodded. “Alright… We can always go down _this_ path next, I suppose. Why not see what’s down the one Anzu likes first?”

“But, how are we going to get up there?” Jounouchi asked, squinting up at the tunnel.

The answer, as was eventually decided, was for Mana to climb up the ladder a pre-decided distance, cut the ropes off at that point, then jump down for Jounouchi to catch. They could re-tie the ladder together later, when they needed to leave- But that was a side-point at that moment, as they took their prize to Anzu’s tunnel. There, Jounouchi hoisted Mana and Anzu both up by hand, and between them the girls strained to hold the ladder so the boys could climb up- Bakura first, and then Jounouchi after the other three were all there to support his weight.

Task completed, they tossed the ladder aside at the tunnel entrance and followed the path, turning their flashlights back on as the construction lights faded away.

Doubt very quickly touched their minds as they realized the path they were on was _not_ decorated like the others. There were no hieroglyphs or paintings there- Just blank, jagged walls. It looked much more like a natural cave than one carved by men thousands of years ago. Bakura theorized it might have been an abandoned chamber- Opened up just enough for assessment by the tomb builders before the workers abandoned it to dig elsewhere. A rejected dead-end.

But the longer they walked, the more Anzu felt a strange sensation… Like she was walking there twice over- Once as she was, before Mana and behind Bakura, unsure of where she was headed, and _again_ as… As what? She did not know, nor even understand what her own senses told her, but whatever it was- It was as though she both knew, and _did_ not know where they were headed.

A double-vision of the self.

It would have disturbed her into stalling, speaking up, expressing fear, but with that ‘not-knowing knowing’ came a determination to more forward, a certainty that the only way she could make this her and this _other_ her converge back into one was to _get to the end of that tunnel_ -

“Wait-”

Jounouchi stuck out an arm, halting them all.

“What’s the matter?” Mana spoke up from the back, craning to look around Anzu and Bakura- But Jounouchi only shook his head, and did not turn back to them.

“ _Listen_.”  
  
And so they did… And only once they stalled did Anzu hear it- And her voice caught with the realization.

She could still hear the crackle of sand and dirt and stone under foot… But none of _them_ were walking anymore.

“W-what-?” she started, only for Bakura to wave back at her, clearly wanting her to stay silent. For what little Anzu did say echoed all around them… And after a breath, the sounds stilled into silence, as if in answer.

They all looked at one another- Wary, alarmed… But they did not panic until the sounds suddenly started back up with a vengeance, and a shadowed figure rounded the corner just ahead of them.

Jounouchi instantly lifted his light to it- And screamed.

Right along with the rest of them.

Anzu turned and bolted, the image of that face burnt into her mind.

That horrid, fleshless _decomposing_ face!!

“ _WHAT IS THAT?!_ "

“I don’t know!!” Anzu cried back to Jounouchi without stopping, and then they were at the tunnel entrance again, tripping to a stop.

“T-the ladder-” Bakura started, looking about anxiously and grabbing it just as Mana dove right over the edge- rolling into a grunting landing below.

“Come on!” Jounouchi cried as he followed, and Anzu didn’t stall long enough to see if Bakura found it- She just jumped, pain screaming up her legs when one knee hit the ground.

However hurt she was, though, she could still stand, and by the time she was on her feet again Bakura was there, the ladder in hand.

“Come on!” Mana screamed, putting her hands out. “Give it to me and boost me up! I’ll re-tie it and-”

“ _Guys!_ ”

They all looked up, only to jolt as they saw him there under the construction lights- The walking skeleton of bones and stained red rags and pale hair. He stood there, at the tunnel opening, _staring_ at them. The skull- It was almost as though it were grinning! And- And there was a dagger in its hand, and there was, some sort of golden shimmer, on its chest-

“ _Come on_!”  
  
A tug at her wrist, and Anzu was stumbling after Mana. They followed the boys into the tunnel that they had nearly taken to begin with- The one they didn’t need to climb to reach.

_T-That’s right, if this place leads somewhere we can get out from, or at least hide-_

But they didn’t make it more than thirty seconds in before they discovered the cave collapse.

“ _Dammit!_ ” Jounouchi screamed, kicking a pile of rocks that blocked their way- Only to jump and let Bakura pull him back when the whole tunnel shook a bit.

“Stop- We’ll just have to turn around, try to take another way before that thing can-”

But Mana’s gasp interrupted Anzu’s admonishment, and they all turned to see- It was there.

 _He_ was there.

For, at some point between the last tunnel at that one, the _thing_ had gained back flesh- Enough for Anzu to make out a dark male chest. The rags had somehow mended themselves into a frayed red cloak, beneath white linen, and- And even then, before her eyes, the skull was growing back muscle, and flesh, and an outline of features became clear, and-

She dropped her flashlight as the figure continued to twitch in its strange, ghastly reanimation, but her friends’ lights continued to illuminate him. She watched as the man _blinked_ , newly formed, pale violet eyes.

He looked at them… _Laughed_ at them, even as he choked in his effort to speak.

“N-no way…” Jounouchi breathed, but Anzu could not look to him- Could not turn to see what Mana thought, or if Bakura recognized.

She could only cover her mouth and stare as the thing straightened itself, the Millennium Ring glinting on his chest as he grinned, and finally managed to speak.

“What?” asked the being they had only ever known as _Bakura_. “You expected someone else?”


	38. Chapter 38

“Y-you-” Jounouchi stumbled over the word, struggled for the equilibrium they had each lost in the face of _him_ \- The thief of that world of memory… _Zorc_ himself…?

“How-” It was Bakura who spoke, voice thin with shaken emotion. But when Anzu dared for one, anxious moment to tear her eyes away from the dark, hunched figure, she saw that her friend was steady on his feet, the fear and confusion in his eyes all honed sharply on _refusing_ what he saw. “How can it be you?! You were destroyed- Yuugi-kun said they destroyed you, and I _felt_ it- I know it!”

“Did you? Ha ha ha…” That laugh- Anzu grit her teeth against the feel of it grating in her ear, against saying _anything_ , and raised her arm to wave back Mana when she looked ready to speak up, and demand answers- Draw the old demon’s eyes to _her_ in place of Bakura. “Are you sure that wasn’t your own wishful thinking? It wouldn’t be the first time you misplaced me, only to pick me up again.”

“Shut up!” It was Jounouchi, the taunts thrown Bakura’s way finally snapping through his own horror and disbelief and freeing him to step up, move protectively in front of his friend and the rest of them as he demanded through gritted teeth- “How can you be here without using Bakura to walk around?! And looking like _that_ -” He pointed towards the once-skeleton’s face with an accusing finger, earning not even a blink from the leering man. “That’s how you looked in that Egyptian world, right?! How you looked back when Atem was the pharaoh! But that was thousands of years ago, so you should be dead!”

“I _am_ dead,” the thing replied with quiet emphasis, the subtle smile on his face – somehow so much worse than his full leer – twitching when Jounouchi jerked at the answer. “Or I _was_ … Don’t feel so cheated, you and your friends and the pharaoh all ripped me into sound little pieces in my world, _fair and square_ \- I was nothing but scrap paper drifting in the shadows, until a far too boring human dug me out of the rubble of this tomb, and a far more interesting _voice_ spoke to me through him.”

“-a voice?” Anzu breathed, the hairs on the back of her neck rising with the strange tone the risen thief used. But whatever question she might have asked was drowned out unformed by the old enemy’s reply as he held out his hand before him, clenching it closed.

“Yes… The one within the _archaeologist_ , Tariq Banoub. You know of him, don’t you?”

They also started at the name, gasps audible from all sides- But it was Mana who took a step forward, pushed heedlessly against Anzu’s grip to snap at the thief. “ _Him_ \- He’s the one who fought Atem with _Jeu_! And you- You’re working with the same spirit that possessed him, aren’t you?! The, the one who-”

The thief’s gaze shifted and lingered on Mana with a curious, intrigued light in his eye, a chuckle rumbling up from his throat. “Ah, _you…_ Still trailing after lost loved ones, are you?”

Mana jolted, something struck and not near confused enough splashing over her face before Bakura stepped up, between the two to demand the ghost’s attention once more. “So, The Devourer spoke to you though Banoub, the same way he spoke to Malik-kun when he was young- And what did he tempt you with? Revenge?”

“ _Ha_ , so much more than that, my once host.” The thief gave a gesturing wave towards himself, smirking as he replied. “That voice, it told me that we both have a score to settle with a certain _dead king_ , and that he would _bring me back to life_ … Give me _flesh_ of my own once more, to _keep_ , if I would just use it to help him achieve his own goals. A scheme that _I_ would be more than happy to see play out to success, and have a hand in bringing about.” He gave a strange shrug as he waived both hands, the steel of his blade glinting wickedly with the motion. “I put him off until the last second there, but needless to say- He’s proven himself as good as his word.”

“… The Devourer can bring back the dead…?” Bakura barely breathed the words, that single point apparently stealing so much of his attention that Anzu had the time to speak up herself.

“And is that why you’re still down here?! Did The Devourer know we would come here? Did he send you to kill us?!”

The dead man walking broke into a deep, throaty laugh.

“ _Hahaha_ \- He is not _psychic_ , _Anzu_ , even if he knows… _Things_ that you would never guess, from sources you wouldn’t believe.” He waved behind him, back down the tunnel- Down the path that was their only escaped, blocked by _him_. “No, the first task _He_ suggested to me? It was to catch the pharaoh off guard when he dared go near the palace ruins again. It is _certain_ he will go back there eventually- Banoub found him there, after all, didn’t he? But I delayed my agreement, and everything changed after the pharaoh used that _pendant_.”

Anzu sucked in a breath at _that_ word, skirting her gaze to the side to find that, yes- The same shock was painted on her friends’ faces.

How could this ghost know about _that_?!

It- It didn’t matter, though. They didn’t dare interrupt to ask… And the old villain wasn’t done talking.

“No… After _that_ , my fine new friend charged me to guard _this_ place- Said that the pharaoh would naturally come stumbling down _here_ next.”

“-why?” Jounouchi asked, tense but demanding as he stood his ground. “What’s there to find in this place, huh? And how does The Devourer even know about what we’re doing- What’s _down here_?!”

The spirit laughed, smirked his pleasure as he gave his vague answers. “Did you _forget_ , Jounouchi?! I just told you- _Tariq Banoub_! He was wandering around down here for days before the pharaoh killed him- Well after they got hold of the Items! _He_ found what was down here! It just didn’t _matter_ to the voice, until the pharaoh pulled his little stunt in the museum! ‘ _The Devourer’_ knows, now, what would happen if the pharaoh came down here… If he got his _hands_ on it…”

“You know then, don’t you?” Anzu asked, even as her stomach turned with awareness- That she had been right. That there _was_ something here. She _was_ being led _somewhere_ … To _something_. “You know what’s happening to Atem!”

The raised thief… He just smirked.

And she knew he wouldn’t tell them.

“So you expected ‘Atem’ then, but you got us instead!” Mana summed up, defiant as she raised her chin to glare right back at their would-be attacker. “What now then, huh? Are you going to gut us all and leave us here for him to find, when he finally wakes up?!”

“What a lovely image,” the thief observed, the casual wonder in his voice more unnerving than any bark of laughter… But he eventually broke the tense silence with a little shrug. “But _no_. None of you are going to leave this place alive, but I have my end of a bargain to keep, and _He_ has his own preferred way to take out souls.”

“…the Duel of Sacrifice and Shade…” Bakura murmured, resigned in the recollection, and he did not move or react when Jounouchi raised a fist.

“You think we’d agree to play something like _that_ with _you_?! Ha- What for?! Malik had Rishid and the tablet to threaten, Amir was gonna burn down the museum, and Banoub had Atem and Jeu trapped- But that was behind bars, where they’d definitely starve to death if they didn’t fight back! But what about you, huh? You think blocking our way with a single knife is enough?!”

“Jounouchi-” Anzu tried to say, but it was too late. The smirk the thief gave in the face of Jounouchi’s sudden running charge was the only warning they got before the Ring glowed-

And threw them all back with a sharp wave of light.

“ _Gah_ -!”

“Aaa!”

“-gh!”

Pain shot up Anzu’s back as she slammed into the rocks that had blocked their way. They cut through her cloths and scratched her hip, and then she fell to her hands and knees, beside her friends.

They had all been thrown down by the Item’s power… And they all struggled, but s _he_ was the first to rise enough to see that shadow’s smirk still trained on them… The first who found enough breath to protest.

“He’s… The Devourer… He is just tricking you! He threw away the others- Tortured Malik-kun, when they played… Do you think, doing what he wants, will help you?!”

If she had held any hope of making him doubt, or reconsider, it shriveled up completely at the easy amusement she saw in the man’s cold gaze.

“ _Oh,_ I know he is just playing me, in his way… But do not worry for _my_ sake, Anzu. Malik could tell you himself- I know how to make the best of a bad deal… After all, a dead man has nothing to _lose_ , does he?” He chuckled at his own little joke as Anzu glared up at him. “-now, am I going to have to acquaint all of you with those rocks again, and _again_ , **_and again_** … Or have you gotten the point?”

“Gah- Dammit…” Jounouchi cursed as he found his feet, clutched his own shoulder while glaring at their assailant. “ _Fine_ , if that’s how you want to go about it! If you want a duel-”

“-then I’ll fight you!” Jounouchi and Anzu turned with a start to stare at Mana, and found her face set in a determined frown, even as she struggled to rise. “You- You want a _fight_ , then-”

“-like hell!” Jounouchi yelled, a frantic edge to his anger as he faced the younger teen in place of their ghostly enemy.

And Anzu was happy to agree with his outburst this time, reaching out to grab the girl’s shoulder. “Mana, you shouldn’t- You didn’t even know about any of this until tonight! How can you-”

“No!” The cry was rushed, not malicious, but Anzu still flinched as the girl shrugged out of her grip and glared at them both. “This is what I came here for! I knew something like this was sure to happen– It _keeps_ happening, right?! So of course it would! And I brought a deck just for it, so don’t even try to stop me!”

“Still!” Anzu tried to insist, but where the girl’s words hadn’t deterred her, the hard flint in Mana’s green eyes as she stared at her? It… It, stilled Anzu’s protests… And all she could do was look to Jounouchi, and see the same fraying will in his frown.

“Are you _sure_ about this, Mana-chan?”

“-you’ve seen me duel, Jounouchi-kun.” She stepped up to the older man, and poked him in the chest with each word she uttered. “ _You_ , _dueled_ , _me_ , remember? On my video game, _and_ for real, with my own cards. Are _you_ going to tell me I don’t know what I’m doing?”

Anzu hadn’t seen any of those duels herself, but she could guess the answer well enough by the fight that drained out of Jounouchi’s face… The emotion replaced with irked reluctance.

“ _Fine_ , if that’s what you want. Just don’t go using life points for any card costs, got it? Those points are _literally_ your life here. I’ll do the same, so-”

“Jounouchi-kun.”

What ease had fallen over the group in their determination and set course crashed right back to the ground at the quiet, stalling call… And all three turned to stare at their fourth companion.

Bakura was staring passed all of them, towards the thief… And only spoke again after a long, thoughtful silence. “I will duel as Mana’s partner.”

“… _what_?”

It was Anzu who breathed that, but it was Jounouchi who stepped forward and grasped Bakura’s upper arms. Who blurted out “ _What are you saying?_ ” Jounouchi looked ready to _shake_ him, but Bakura only shook his head, gaze and body steady under the onslaught. “You want to fight?! _Him_?! Why-”

“I need to do this _because_ it is him-” Bakura tried to explain, but Jounouchi just rolled right over him, all the more vehement.

“You don’t have to do that! What that guy did is _not_ your fault, Bakura! You don’t have to try and take responsibility like that!”

“I know that,” the pale-haired teen replied, and the easy, calm agreement took Jounouchi aback enough for Bakura to reach up and remove his friend’s hands, mirror Jounouchi’s own actions by keeping hold of his wrists as he explained. “This isn’t about guilt over what he’s done… It’s about the fact that he kept me from _helping you_ when he did those things. All of those times he took control of my body- I’m _still_ not certain I remember them all. But he did it so that he could hurt my friends… It tore me up, that time Babosa turned me away from going into the Puzzle, because I thought I had lost my last chance to help everyone. But now, that chance has come again, and against _him_? I don’t want to stand by and watch this. I want to help, however I can.”

“Bakura…” Jounouchi, he didn’t seem like he was even sure _what_ to say.

But it was opening enough for Anzu to step up and put hand on his elbow, mere inches from where Bakura’s own lingered. “We need to trust him, Jounouchi-kun- And support him. If Bakura-kun feels that strongly, that he needs to do this…”

It was clear that Jounouchi still didn’t like it. His expression wavered for one, long moment- And when his gaze shifted over their shoulders to _him_ , it turned dark with barely contained rage.

Anzu didn’t know what Jounouchi saw, but when _she_ looked back, the raised man was shooting them the same vague smirk as before… And either way, Jounouchi finally answered.

“ _Fine_.” He turned his gaze back to Bakura with a snap, glowering at him as he insisted, “But _you stay safe_ , and get out of this battle in one piece- I won’t accept any comas from you, _or_ Mana!”

“Understood,” Bakura said with a smile, the expression far too untouched by the situation for Anzu to believe it as he slipped out of Jounouchi’s grip to step forward, and move to Mana’s side.

“You got any problems with that?!” Mana called to the solid ghost, who had waited with such eerie patience for them to finish.

But it was like Mana’s address broke some spell over him. The moment she spoke, he let out a chuckle that cracked and echoed through the tunnel to bounce back and crawl down Anzu’s spine. “ _Why_ would I care? The two of you first, or second, it doesn’t matter. I will take out all four of you out before I am done, but if you and my old master want to go first…”

“Why?” She couldn’t help it- Anzu couldn’t let the man’s jeers stand without counter, or _at least_ inquiry, so she stepped up herself to glower at that old enemy. “Why _are_ you doing this? You have a knife, and the Ring. You could just attack us all at once and be done with it, so why bother with this strange duel? Why does ‘ _he_ ’ want you to do this?!”

“-you can’t guess?” The villain actually looked _disappointed_ in her- But the smirk was quick to return to his face when she glared at him. “These duels- They _feed_ Him!” He made a vague gesture towards himself as they all stared, caught between confusion and a slowly rising, dreadful alarm. “I am not the only head he’s wormed his way into, am I? The others were not- No, _are_ not as accommodating as I am, that is true. And it is weary work to bend an unwilling soul to your will… But you? Every time you and your friends, and even _his_ puppets lose one of those ‘candles’? That light goes straight to _Him_ \- Gives Him that much more power to be ‘ _heard_ ’ by those He whispers to… Or, to take their hands as His own, if they won’t use them as He bids.”

“…what?”

Anzu, could barely breathe the word, and was too numb to even blink as Jounouchi stepped up beside her to speak. “Then- Then those guys who died in those other duels, and all the others in a coma right now, and even the wounds _Atem_ and Isis and I took-”

“You’ve all been _helping Him along_ , every one of you!” The once thief confirmed with a grin, a smile that could have easily been found on a Western pumpkin- Carved out by a knife. “And oh, He’s grateful for every little bit you offer Him. _That_ one, she’s proving willing enough from what I’ve heard- _She_ requires little persuasion. But the other two? They’re a pair. Even _He_ has struggled to get them to heel. Yes… He’s going to need every little donation you and I can offer him _there_ -”

“What the hell are you even _talking_ about?!” Jounouchi interrupted, the vague comments finally snapping what was left of his patience and nerves. His fingers clenched in a fist as he raised his hand. “So The Devourer’s getting something out of all this, I got that! But the rest of that-”

“He must be talking about the three who have the missing three Items,” Bakura mumbled beneath his breath, tilting his head just enough to speak to them _without_ taking his eyes off of the raised thief. “The last three sacrifices… The ones we don’t _know_ yet.”

The answer stalled Jounouchi’s complaints, but he simply went stiff- Just as Anzu swallowed back her own reaction. Yes… Yes, there would be three more, wouldn’t there be? Even after _this_ , they had expected that… But having it confirmed, even indirectly like that? It put a chilled seal to the truth.

Three more… No, _four_ more duels, counting this one- And The Devourer gaining more power with each one to control his puppets and… To do what? To, win this twisted game of his?! To _kill Atem_?!

Why was there still so much they did not know?!

Before anyone else could find their voice, Bakura stepped forward. “Do you have Duel Disks for us to use… What am I supposed to call you?” His back was to them, but Anzu could practically hear the frown in his voice. “I am not going to call you Bakura- I am certain that that isn’t actually your name. And… Would _Zorc_ even be appropriate for you?”

“Oh?” the walking spirit asked, but the lack of further comment from his former host just made him smirk. He didn’t answer the question- Did not confirm or deny anything directly. He simply turned to backtrack through the tunnel- Tossing his delayed reply over his shoulder. “If the question _bothers you so much_ , you can just call me Asar.”

“-so that’s his name?” Mana mumbled as they all tentatively started to follow, keeping a good distance between them and their guide.

“Hell if I know,” Jounouchi hissed back, glowering at the figure that was little more than a shadow before them and their weak lights. “Never heard that one before.”

“It’s not,” Bakura said with a black certainty that drew all of their eyes to him- Surprised by the flat expression painted on his face. “Asar is an old name for Osiris. I highly doubt he would just happen to be named for the god of the dead.”

“-at least it’s a better thing to call him than Bakura, right?” Anzu tried, and to her relief Bakura seemed to warm to the offered point, shooting her a smile.

“Yes. Thank you, Anzu-chan.”

“Right. Good point, whatever you mean by that, but-” Mana cut in, her eyes skirting quickly between the group and the tunnel ahead as she dropped her voice to the lowest murmur possible. “Shouldn’t we be looking for some way to take advantage of this? Like- Maybe Bakura-kun and I could distract him with the duel long enough for you two to get out of here and like- Get back up or something?”

“I don’t think we could sneak passed him, Mana-chan. The only way out is up the ladder, and he would see us for certain,” Anzu answered, to her own reluctance. But whatever disappointment her point might have caused, it was nothing to the question Jounouchi posed.

“And even if we could, who would you suggest we get?”

…silence was all the answer any of them had to give.

“Did you get lost somewhere?” the spirit– No, _Asar_ asked when they all finally came out into the main pit again- To find their ‘host’ there, hovering in the entrance of an elevated tunnel they had not thought to explore.

 _How_ he had managed to get up to a tunnel some good twelve feet off of the ground without any visible rope or ladder, Anzu couldn’t guess… And she honestly didn’t care.

“Shut up,” Jounouchi snapped back, glowering for every smirk and gleaming smile Asar offered- Until the thief’s greyed-out violet eyes slid down, onto Bakura, and Mana.

He crouched down and picked up two Duel Disks - one in each hand - and tossed them down to the waiting pair. “-this should prove to be _fun_.”

“Just put on your own and take your turn,” Bakura answered in a neutral, simple tone- And Anzu could only stare at him as he and Mana loaded their decks, thinking that she had never heard the pale-haired boy so close to expressing _actual_ outward anger before.

And apparently Asar appreciated the expression himself, as he let out a chuckle that sounded almost _fond_ to Anzu’s ears. He followed it up by producing a third duel disk and prepping it with one, smooth motion- That single move resulting in a _crack_ of shadows that spilled out from his form like a wave.

Anzu didn’t have time to blink or even catch her breath before the great _pressure_ of it hit her in the gut and blinded her with black.

“ _Damnit_ -” Jounouchi cursed beside her as the world turned to fog and they were knocked away, forced to step back a few feet- Create a proper distance between _them_ , and their friends.

Bakura, and Mana.

The competitors… And potential sacrifices.

“Mana- B-” she started to say, but it was no good. She knew even before Jounouchi put a hand to her shoulder. She had heard, and seen enough herself, to know- The two might be standing just a few feet in front of them, beyond the veil of shadow, but they might as well a thousand miles away… As distant as _Atem_ had been in the last month, even standing right before them.

The duel had started, and they were not part of it. They would not be heard again until _after_ a result was reached.

 _They will win_ , Anzu told herself. _They will be alright- They_ have _to be!_

-but she was knocked out of her own inner prayers when Jounouchi _squeezed_ her shoulder, making her flinch. “Jounouchi-kun, what are you-”

“ _Look_!” He pointed up, towards the tunnel- And Anzu saw. Saw what made Jounouchi snap, and Bakura suck in a breath so audible that she heard it.

A gasp she herself echoed, because the shade that had appeared at the thief’s side-

It was a blacked out imitation, and its smirk was a perfect mirror to Asar’s own, _but_ -

The form.

The form wasn’t that of the thief they had seen in that world of memory, and stood _just there_ to the side.

The hair was, too long. The clothes too modern.

The _eyes_ didn’t match what she remembered, all blue and slanted, but it didn’t matter.

Anzu knew the face of the spirit of the Millennium Ring.

But, was it _him_?! Could it, could it really be-

She didn’t know… But when he smiled down at them, she wondered if it even really mattered.

That smile spelled _DEATH,_ whoever wore it.


	39. Chapter 39

“I summon Lemon Magician Girl in attack mode- Battle phase! I attack the dead guy’s face down card with Kiwi Magician Girl!”

“Nice try, but that was a Mystic Tomato, so I summon another one in its place in attack mode.”

“ _Ah-_ Then… Then, I attack _that_ one with Dark Magician Girl! And she’s powered up thanks to my Dark Magician in the graveyard, so you lose 900 life points!”

“ _Guh_ … Keh heh, I admit, little girl, that stung a little.”

“ _Don’t call me that_!”

“This is getting surreal,” Jounouchi observed as they finally stalled their steps. He and Anzu had been slowly walking the ‘perimeter’ of the shadowy field over the last two turns, aiming to stop where they could observe both sides of the duel straight on, instead of from behind Bakura and Mana.

The change in perspective didn’t make the scene any less strange.

“It is,” Anzu agreed, her attention shifting between Mana, and the duel monster she had just attacked with… The Dark Magician Girl. “Does… Does she not wonder _why_ that card looks exactly like her?”

“Nope.” The answer was so instant and simple that Anzu finally blinked her eyes off of the duel to shoot her friend a confused look- Earning a shrug and a… surprisingly somber expression in answer. “Mana apparently thinks it’s on purpose- That Jeu had Pegasus design the Dark Magician Girl to look like _her_ \- Just for her.”

…that made a lot of sense, actually.

And that didn’t make it any less sad to consider.

“I didn’t correct her,” Jounouchi added after a long pause, and the shorter brunette answered with a sharp headshake.

“Of course not,” she agreed, her eyes darting back to the fight in search of something- _Anything_ to change the subject. But the two duelists were _still_ fighting with words, not cards, and the best she could do was skim her gaze over the rest of the hologram ladies lining Mana’s side of the field. “-I don’t recognize the rest of those cards, though. Are those supposed to be more of those new cards that have come out?”

“Apparently- Mana dueled me with them a few times.”

Anzu nodded silently in answer, her gaze dropping… And catching, on the candles lined up at the other girl’s feet. She- Mana still had all forty while the thief and his shadow had lost fifteen and eight each, but _Bakura_ … He had lost eleven himself.

And none of them had reached the dreaded twenty yet- The black candles… And any of them still _could_ …

“Hey,” Jounouchi elbowed her shoulder, making Anzu jolt about to look at him- and meet his firm stare. “They’re going to be fine, Anzu.”

“-right.” Her voice sounded hollow in her own ears… But it was hard to correct the mistake when her gaze swung back, and caught on the lights hovering _above_ the Shade’s head.

Three letters were already lit on the Destiny Board.

“Guh, _fine_ -” Mana finally snapped, slapping two cards into the side of her Disk before straightening with a glower. “I set two cards facedown and end my turn.”

-and the fourth letter flickered to life.

That meant there was only one more left to come…

And the moment that happened, they would lose.

Bakura and Mana would lose.

“Then it would be _my turn_ -” the shadow breathed, the simple sound of that voice making Anzu shudder as she focused on the black outline of the figure. She had deduced within a couple of rounds that the man she saw was _not_ , in fact, the spirit she long thought gone. The borne again thief showed far more signs of actually being _him_ , however he looked. And yet- There was definitely something of that _same_ familiar ice in the shadow’s blue eyes as they narrowed on Mana. “But first, I am curious- What could possibly light that fire under you? You insisted so _vehemently_ on being in this duel. And I understand _him_ -” Those eyes darted towards Bakura, prompting a twitch of a muscle in the tall teen’s face, but nothing more before the shadow returned his attention to his tag partner. “But you… Why fight us? What do you expect to accomplish that Jounouchi could not?”

“… _You_ -” Mana looked up as rage flashed in her eyes, teeth clenching around each bite of her words. “You- You’re all the same shadow, aren’t you? So that means it was _you_ \- You’re the one causing all of these duels!” The shadow didn’t answer, but the twitch of a grin at his lips snapped what little control Mana had left over her feelings- And she raised a fist in the air as she took one bare step forward, nearly toeing her own candles. “You want to know _why_ I am doing this?! Well, you should already know if you’re the same shadow! How can you not know… It’s because of _Jeu_! Because of what you did to her!” She raised her Disk up before her, displaying the set cards as she waved toward the holograms with her other hand. “I am fighting you with the deck that she helped me build, the cards she taught me to use, and loves as much as I do- I fight because I am the _only one_ who can stand here in her place, because you _took her away from me_! And if fighting you will help me get back the only proper family I have left, then I’ll bet my life _a thousand times over to take you out_!!”

“Mana…” Anzu breathed, frozen stiff by the girl’s fire, her determination… The grief that clung tight to the bottom side of her rage, and shone in her eyes as tears as well as anger.

“ _Shit_ …” It was barely more than a breath, but it was enough to draw Anzu’s gaze to the side- To see how Jounouchi was clenching his fists, an echo of Mana’s pain and rage in his own eyes as he looked on. “I’m an idiot… _Of course_ Mana would want to avenge her. But _these guys play on feelings like that_. What if they-”

“We have to believe in her,” Anzu breathed, reaching out to pull Jounouchi’s sleeve until he looked at her. “Her deck, the one she fought you with… It’s a strong one, right?”

“…yeah,” he acknowledged on a calming sigh, their synced attention sliding back to the field. “It’s strong... She’s strong.”

The shadow- It let out a closed mouth chuckle, the sound hollow and empty and echoing about them. “And you think _this_ will bring her back?”

Mana didn’t answer. She just kept glaring through her tears, not even looking up at Bakura’s quiet efforts to speak to her.

And, the thief… The thief just stared.

Eyes flat with some reaction Anzu could not read.

And it didn’t matter, for the Shade drew his card, and played.

“I set one card in face down position… And then attack Lemon Magician Girl with Makyura the Destructor.”

“ _Nice try_ ,” Mana breathed, just before she raised her hand towards the target monster. “I activate Lemon Magician Girl’s special effect, and summon a _second_ Kiwi Magician Girl from my hand, with her effect cancelled! _She_ becomes the target, and Makyura the Destructor’s attack points are halved!”

And indeed- A carbon copy of the named magical girl appeared right in front of her lemony sister, taking the attack and turning it back on its source- Wiping Makyura out with its own blast.

“Alright!” Jounouchi yelped out as ten more candles went out at the Shade’s feet, and Anzu- She couldn’t help but grin, too, quietly proud of their friend’s success in knocking back that taunting shadow.

She might have cheered her on, too, but she knew she and Jounouchi would not be heard. She could only silently thank Bakura for turning to the girl in their place. “Great move, Mana-”

“My turn is not done yet-” cut in the shadow’s voice, and as they all turned to face him, he pulled a single card from his hand, eyes gleaming with a laugh he did not loose. “When Makyura the Destructor is destroyed in battle, I can play any trap _from my hand_ for the rest of the turn… And I have this.” He slapped the card onto his blacked out Duel Disk, and the image of it blew up tenfold before him, for all to see.

“…isn’t that-” Anzu asked on a sucked-in breath, but Jounouchi only cursed over her question. That was all the confirmation she needed, though, to show that her memory was correct.

The Ring of Destruction.

Mana tensed in the face of it, but there was no ignoring the truth of it as a belt of grenades circled the Kiwi Magician Girl and tightened about her neck.

The duel monster barely had time to simulate a struggle before she exploded.

“ _Gah!_ ” The duelist was blown off her feet by the blast, tossed down… And remained limp on the floor for far, far too long as her candles flickered out, one by one.

“Mana-chan!” Anzu cried alongside her friends, all fighting back the urge to go to her, to control the alarm that ran rampant through their heads.

But the lights… Their loss stalled with just two white lights to spare, barring the loss of the black that would have followed, and the girl- She slowly… _Slowly_ rose back to her feet.

“Do you… Think, that’s enough to take me out?” she breathed, the light still afire in her eyes easing the rest of them far more than her literal recovery had. “You- _You’re_ the one who’s close to ‘ _DEATH_ ’.”

And it was true. The shadow- He was all but lost to the fog about him, only _four_ candles left burning at his feet.

The being itself, though- He just sniffed in answer, his easy expression never wavering.

“As you just alluded to, it’s not _life points_ that will win _this duel_ … Now, I end my turn. My _last_ turn… And that would make it _yours_ , wouldn’t it?”

Bakura… He slowly slid his gaze away from Mana… To meet the icy blue of that shadow.

The echo of the specter that had once haunted his own skin.

But, he did not linger on him. No, Anzu saw his gaze tick to the left and catch, instead, on the dark skinned thief that… Actually, Bakura had never met him directly, had he? No- He had not gone into the world of memory with her or Jounouchi, Yuugi or Honda. He had been left behind, unaware of the full adventure until after the fact. If he knew the thief as _anything_ , it would be as a piece in the diorama the Ring Spirit coaxed him to create.

But there was no confusion or doubt in Bakura’s eyes when he stared at that walking ghost.

He knew who he was looking at, as well as she or Jounouchi did.

“…yes,” he finally breathed, drawing a card and giving it only a passing glance before calling it out to join his Pyramid Turtle on the field. “I summon Zombie Master in attack mode.”

“ _-gee_ ehhh!” Jounouchi balked, and Anzu couldn’t blame him.

She had to flinch herself at the unnerving smile on the pale, mask-like face of the monster.

And that was to say _nothing_ about the all-too realistic zombies crawling about his feet!

“And by sending Nightmare Horse to the graveyard from my hand, I can use Zombie Master’s effect to special summon Vampire Lord from my graveyard, and use him to attack your last Mystic Tomato.”

The monster that appeared instantly short forward with a flash of an indigo cape, sending Asar’s diabolically smiling fruit flying in a spray of colors.

And the thief- He flinched when the monster disappeared. Actually _reacted_ as six more of his candles went out, the first black one included… And a small line of blood ran undisturbed from his nose, across his lips, and down his chin… Dropping down in a slow drip to stain the fabric of his frayed red sleeve.

Anzu… She didn’t understand the conflicted, uncertain emotion that went through her at that sight… Much less the feeling she saw on _Bakura’s_ face when the dragging silence pulled her attention back to _him_.

“…what’s the matter, _yadonushi_?” the dead man asked, expression oddly numb beyond the jeer of a grin he offered. “Cat got your tongue?” Bakura didn’t answer. Didn’t look anymore certain than he had been a moment before… He merely flinched as the thief gave a hollow chuckle and pulled a card from his deck. “Then, allow me- I use Mystic Tomato’s effect to summon Legendary Fiend in attack mode.”

“-then I attack _that_ card with Zombie Master,” Bakura countered, face twitching again as Asar’s monster disappeared within moments of its summoning, and three more lights flickered out.

The thief let out a moist chuckle with each one, all but drowning out Bakura’s quiet voice.

“…then- Then, I attack _directly_ with Pyramid Turtle.”

The named beast opened its maw and a bright light shot forth to hit Asar square in the chest, knocking him back a few steps. A strangled grunt welled up out of the man, but he refused to bend- To let his legs unhinge as he _slid_ back into the shadows of the cave… And he only allowed himself a small release _after_ the lights stopped going out, leaving only four still burning.

They could barely make him out by the few flickering flames, but it was easy enough to hear the strangle as Asar coughed, and spot the catch of light when he spit blood.

“…is that _all_ then?” he finally asked.

But Bakura… He didn’t answer. And Anzu could swear she could see his cards shaking in his hands- See a touch of green at the edges of his face.

“Dammit,” Jounouchi mumbled, frustration marking his glare as he turned his eyes up on the thief. “Bakura hasn’t seen one of these fights before, has he?”

“No, but…” Anzu strove to protest, looking between the two figures in rapid succession. “He’s helped take the Ring Spirit out before, and didn’t react like this.”

“Last time he didn’t have to watch the guy _bleed out_ in front of him, and know he was going to literally _kill him_!”

And apparently Asar saw the same reservations in the boy, for he chuckled around his gasps when nothing met his question. “What are you, even trying to _do_ , _yadonushi_?” He laughed every word, and the visceral pain beneath each breath only made the amusement rolled within that much _wrong_. “What did you even _want_ , fighting me?”

“…I want…” Bakura started, only to stumble into a nothing that painted Asar’s face with a bleak satisfaction.

Perhaps he thought the answer would disturb his former host if he admitted it, or maybe he just wanted to _confuse_ the boy in some last ditch effort to save himself.

But, whatever his reasoning, Asar jolted to attention the same as the rest of them when Bakura finally lifted his head and met the thief’s eye with a hard stare. “I want to keep you away from Mana-san, and my friends. I want to stop you from hurting them, and I know- I know from experience, that you will take whatever opening you can find to do it. Hurt them. So I won’t give you the chance.” It was a simple, unembellished speech, but its very simplicity left them all speechless as Bakura turned to Mana. “They both only have a few hundred points. If you can hold onto your monsters through the next turn to make an attack, or have some spell to cause damage-”

“You-” the thief breathed, drawing all of their attention up, and back to his eyes- Something in those struck, staring lavender sending Anzu’s pulse through the roof. “Think I will just wait for you to knock my life points down to zero?”

…that could just mean he planned to do something awful on his turn, wipe out their monsters and their advantage, even deplete _their_ life points.

But as horrible as that thought was, Anzu felt it in her gut. That _wasn’t_ what he meant.

“No…” Asar raised his hand and touched the edge of the golden Ring hanging about his neck, and Bakura visibly jolted as the thief turned a side-eye on his silent, shadowy doppelganger. “ _So sorry_ to back out of our contract before the ink’s even dry, but I know a losing battle when I see one… And I don’t _do losing_.”

“Since when?” Jounouchi grumbled to himself, but Anzu didn’t even acknowledge the little evasive comment, her eyes pinned on that… That _man_ , and what he might do-

“You’ll have to find your ‘energy’ in some other duel, I’m calling this one off _right now_.”

“Mana-” Bakura breathed, never daring to actually take his eyes off of the bloody figure as he started to sidestep towards the girl. “Mana-san, _get behind me_.”

“W-what’s he going to do?” the girl asked, but Anzu could only shake her head.

She didn’t know herself, but she had seen what Asar really was, what he could do.

The rules had all been broken the moment that man drew breath again, and if he could yield the Ring at all, there was no telling… There was no _telling_ what other nightmares he might bring back to life!

The _things_ he might summon, far more solid than anything solid vision could ever produce!

What- What _he himself_ might become-

The possibilities rolled though her mind as the Ring glowed and the duelists scrambled to defend themselves and Jounouchi railed at the barrier between them, and all she could do was _pray_ -

…and wait…

…and wait…

…and nothing…

Nothing happened.

And no one looked as quickly or as thoroughly confused as the thief.

The Millennium Item glowed upon his chest, hummed with a darkness even Anzu had to blink away from- But nothing came of it, even as Asar jerked the Ring clean off of his neck, breaking the cord to turn it about and glare into the center Eye.

“…what have you done…” And it _looked_ like he was talking to the Item itself… But slowly his gaze rose, and turned, until Asar’s eyes met those of his own duel partner. “ _What did you do to me_?”

And the Shade met his gaze with no words, no movement… Until finally, his lips curled with a slow, lifeless smile.

As lifeless as the thief should have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have started scheduling when I update certain stories. 
> 
> The next chapter should be out by **August**!


	40. Chapter 40

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG, FOUR MONTHS HIATUS BROKEN, YUSH. 
> 
> Apologies for the wait, and thank you for your patience! But I’ve finally broken through the writer’s block, and the fourth sacrifice duel is officially done!! 
> 
> Let's see how this wraps up, shall we?

“ _What did you do to me_?!”

The pit echoed with the Asar’s repeated scream, and no one else dared speak. Dared ask.

Silence reigned until the Shade finally accompanied his smile with a long, deep, _empty_ sigh of pity, and peered back at the paralyzed thief with glass ice eyes. “I feared you would turn on me too soon, if I raised you… I didn’t have time to tweak your soul to my liking, after all, and your nature is… _what it is_. It was only to be expected-”

“What…” Asar interrupted, each word a gasp as he continued to raze the shadow with his gaze. “Did you _do to me_?”

“So sorry,” the Shade apologized, continuing to grin without a single hint of regret. “You can use the Ring to your heart’s content, if you like… but only its own ingrained powers. The sort any holder of it might.” His pale eyes clipped down to the gold, going on as though his point should have been obvious, “You are not Zorc, after all.”

The air grew heavy with reborn silence, four seconds passing, timed by the pulse roaring in Anzu’s ears… until Bakura broke in with a quiet, “ _What_?”

“What’s he saying?” Jounouchi asked, whispering even though no one but Anzu _could_ hear him.

“Who is Zorc?” Mana asked, looking to Bakura for answers- but he was too busy staring at Asar in complete, utter shock.

The same way the _thief_ was staring at the Shade.

“What are you talking about?” Asar all but choked out, only to find his voice in the asking and _throw_ his protests at his tag partner. “I _am_ Zorc!”

“No,” the Shade whispered, his attention lingering still on the Ring. “You are not. You are just the vengeful, rebellious little thief who Zorc used to meet his own ends, then threw away. Incorporated into himself.” Finally, he raised his gaze- and smiled into the lost rage in Asar’s face. “Considering that, you should be _grateful_ to me for ‘rescuing’ you from the mire of his identity.”

“That,” Asar started, gritting bloody teeth before snapping, “ _Is a lie_! _I am Zorc_! Asar _and_ Zorc! I remember- I remember it all! I remember not just the slaughter, but _my birth_! My own downfall as Asar, _and_ my own success in _coaxing_ him into darkness! I remember facing the pharaoh, and my sealing! The unending time in the dark, the Items, and all that came after! Killing that priest, possessing _him_ -” he emphasized, while pointing at a frozen, numb-faced Bakura. “All that time I waited, plotted, to _try again_! Only for the pharaoh to seal me once more, and leave me in the Ring, _here_ , buried in the sands! Those memories _belong to_ **_Zorc_**!”

“They do,” the shadow confirmed, his voice little more than a whisper as he stared straight on into the wrath of his partner’s screams, like a man watching a deadly storm roar on from behind the safety of glass. “I have never been gifted at manipulating _memories_ , I fear- removing them, or digging them up where they are buried, hidden in the depths of the soul. And you… that old priest Akhenaden? _He_ was easy enough to strip out, leave behind in the shadows. But _Zorc_? You sacrificed everything that you are to that demon. Even your sense of self… I could not strip _his_ memories from you without destroying _you_ in the bargain.” His features were all but lost to the fog around them, but still there was a sense of a smile tugging at his barely there lips. “So I let you keep it - keep your sense of _being_ that demon - even as I expelled him from your soul.”

“But…” the thief breathed, the struggle and failure to comprehend clear in his shaken gaze. “ _Why_?”

The Shadow tilted its wispy head and stared back with narrowed, cool eyes. “Have you already forgotten, _Asar_ , what you just tried to do? Why… would I ever awaken a puppet that can break free from its own strings?”

Asar… did not reply.

He just stared- nothing readable in his gaze save the horror of understanding.

And all Anzu could do was shake her head and breathe, “That’s… too cruel.”

“…Are you serious?” Jounouchi asked, jerking his eyes off of the fight unfolding before them to mirror Anzu’s incredulous stare right back at her. “Are you actually pitying _him_?”

“Don’t you? He’s horrible, yes, but he’s being used. _Again_.” And she had to shake her head at the thought of it. She had picked up few details about Asar and his circumstances, known him only as an enemy who kept attacking her friends, but still… he had given himself up to his revenge so thoroughly that his very _soul_ could no longer exist without the demon that once used his hate as a tool.

And once again, a being of darkness was exploiting his outrage, pointing Asar at an enemy and prompting him destroy himself, all to meet its own end… and in the end, the thief would get nothing out of it.

It was too sad.

And while Jounouchi’s gaze remained hard, when Anzu looked back to the field? To _Bakura_ \- the person _most used_ by the thief… or at least by _Zorc_?

Anzu saw the same fearful compassion _she_ felt there, in Bakura’s eyes.

“What? Are you that vulnerable without the power of Zorc behind you?” the Shade went on, turning his attention back to his opponents- ignoring how Asar continued to stare at him. “I have given you _life_ , the breath in your lungs and freedom from that Item around your neck. You can move freely, exact your revenge as you like… so long as you _help me_ , that is. I have even handed you the means to hurt the king and his friends, so I suggest you _take it_.” He narrowed his eyes on Mana, and she jerked out of her quiet confusion, instinctively raising her cards-holding hand in a defensive gesture. “It is your turn now, isn’t it Asar? So I suggest you heal yourself, protect yourself, and move this duel along… whatever that girl does next, this will all be over the moment _my turn hits_ \- and we can move on to those two hidden in the fog.”

Anzu sucked in a breath as Jounouchi cursed quietly beside her, thrown instantly back into the reality that, _that was right_. Bakura and Mana, they were still in danger. They were _all_ in danger! Whatever might be happening between the Shade and the Sacrifice, _they_ were all still the targets!

“Y-you don’t have anything else you can do, Bakura-san?” Mana asked, turning to her tag partner in hopes that he might yet have something to do. It _was_ still technically his turn, after all!

But… the thin hope they all harbored died away at the expression on Bakura’s face, as the cloud of shock finally cleared, only to reveal rain.

He shook his head. “No, Mana-chan… Sorry, but Zombie Master was my last gambit. My turn is over.”

And that was that…

But, as the very air around them grew heavy… silence fell.

Asar did not speak.

He was just… _staring_ at his cards.

And they all began to stare at him, uncertain… but it was the _Shade_ who spoke first, eyes narrowed in clear suspension. “I don’t need to remind you what the cost of _losing_ this duel is, do I?”

…Asar smirked. “No, not at all.” And without looking up, or acknowledging his partner’s stare, he slapped down a card. “I summon- _grkh_!” He cried out and grimaced in obvious agony, then turned and glared at the Shade.

The intangible being just leered right back at him. “You… really think I’ll let you do that?”

The thief smirked, disturbing the blood still dripping down his face, sending it running down wetly his throat. “You think you can stop me?”

The Shade just kept staring, eyes unblinking and wide and oddly, _terrifyingly_ hypnotic. “I will _not accept another surrender_. I will waste whatever energy I must to keep that from happening.”

Asar chuckled, the pain beneath the sound making Anzu’s skin crawl. “Oh, I can’t accept that, either… I want to _watch you disappear_.” And with that, the thief keeled over as if someone had kicked him in the gut- but it was his _head_ he clutched, not his stomach.

“A-Asar…” Bakura started- but there was nothing to say. Nothing he could _think_ to say, at least, going by his expression.

It didn’t matter, though. It didn’t seem like Asar heard him. He was too busy struggling against some force none of them could see… that was solely in his own head and heart.

And none of them could do anything but watch… wait, as he fought against it.

And finally won.

The Shade’s whole form flickered like a candle in the wind. It was back again in a heartbeat, but that was all the time Asar apparently needed.

He screamed out, “Night Assailant!”

“ _No_!!” The Shade roared, but it was too late.

“What?” Bakura gasped as a black shrouded figure with blue fire glowing in his hands appeared on the field.

“That ain’t right,” Jounouchi gawked at the monster without a single hint of fear for its eerie nature- too taken aback to notice such things. “That’s a flip card… and weak. It’s pointless if you summon it face-up!”

“He’s making himself vulnerable… opening himself up to attack,” Anzu breathed, barely able to process _that_ much as she watched the thief struggle to his feet, and gasp out two words.

“End… turn…”

“ _You_ …” The shade breathed, but Asar just kept staring at Mana.

It was her turn.

And Mana just… stared at the monster, visibly struggling to comprehend the path set before her.

In the end, she turned to Bakura.

But _he_ was too busy staring at Asar to notice, his expression more conflicted than ever. “Why… why are you sabotaging yourself? Why are you _helping_ us?”

The thief snorted, then choked in response, covering his mouth in a vain attempt to keep some of the blood inside.

“Bakura-san… what should I do?” Mana mumbled, barely audible to Anzu.

Bakura had been closer, so he _must_ have heard. But when he opened his mouth as though to reply, nothing came out.

He looked utterly, utterly lost.

Silence followed for some time, unbroken by the thief, who seemed to be concentrating on staying upright, or even the _shadow_ , who fumed but remained still, his eyes pinned to his cards.

Anzu and Jounouchi remained cut off.

Mana waited for guidance.

Bakura… stared.

There was just… nothing to say. Nothing but a single path forward.

If Mana let the turn pass, the Destiny Board would be completed, and she and Bakura would die.

If she took the only clear alternative, _Asar_ would die.

The choice was an obvious one… but Bakura just would not say so, and no one prompted him.

They all just… waited… put the truth off, if only for a moment.

“…It _is_ my name.”

Anzu ticked her expectant eyes off of Bakura, and turned to the speaker.

Asar.

He was staring at some invisible point in the middle of the field, expression worn, but eyes sharp. “Asar… I was not born to it, but I _chose_ it in my lifetime… It was my promise… to my justice. That I would speak for the dead… that I would _bring death_ to the royals who stole everything to protect their own hides. I would… be the god of death himself… walking amongst them.”

“Figures,” Jounouchi breathed, but there was no venom behind the word. Even with the predictability of the thought, they all found themselves listening… straining to understand.

“What,” Bakura began, only to shake his head to clear it enough to ask. “What is your true name?”

Asar licked some of the blood from his lips, and huffed, “It doesn’t matter… Asar _is_ my name. That _snake_ there thinks that I drowned myself in Zorc… but that’s wrong. I sacrificed who I am _to_ **_death_**. To… the reality of it. For myself… for _others_ … I am… nothing but the need… the _vengeance_. The justice… I must enact… on the pharaoh.”

“Then,” Bakura began, expression clouding over with a distressed level of confusion. “Why would you _help us_? The Devourer is trying to kill, or hurt, or do _something_ horrible to Atem-kun… so, why get in his way, even if he _is_ using you?”

Finally, the thief raised his eyes… to shoot Bakura a grin dripping in black humor. “You think… I want to help _anyone_ get to the pharaoh before I do? Someone who _used me to do it_?” He gave two short huffs of breath that might have been a laugh. “I’ve… had enough of _that_.”

Bakura… said nothing.

Just stared at Asar with open, pained regret.

The sight made Anzu’s own stomach tighten, but _Asar_ just glared. “Don’t you… go _pitying_ me, _yadonushi_. I would kill you and the pharaoh and all of your friends in the worst way possible, if I just _had the chance_.”

“Is-” Jounouchi breathed, gaze flicking searchingly between the thief and Anzu- the only one who could hear his question. “Is he trying to _goad_ Bakura? Into letting Mana do this?”

Anzu shook her head, mind heavy and grim with her certainty. “No… they’ll have to do that anyways, and Asar knows it. Even _The Devourer_ has accepted that,” she claimed, gaze shifting for a brief moment to the still shadow, who seemed to have already distanced himself from the proceedings. “He’s trying to make Bakura-kun _feel better_ about it.”

He… _cared_ about how Bakura felt in this.

That didn’t mean that Asar’s words were _lies_ , though, and Bakura showed his awareness of that as his expression cleared. Hardened.

He shut his eyes, let out a slow breath… and spoke. “I can’t dismiss what you’ve done, and what you want to do… but… to just _ignore_ what you’re doing for us now… Whatever your reasons, you’re _saving_ us, and-” Bakura stuttered around some word, only to drop it, open his eyes, and pin them on the thief. “Asar, are you certain _this_ is what you want?”

Something… _something_ flickered in the thief’s gaze.

Anzu didn’t understand it, though. It was something between surprise and weariness, but neither at once.

And whatever it was, it passed in a heartbeat, and Asar’s expression emptied out completely.

He didn’t answer… but his steady stare at his former host said it all well enough on its own.

Bakura shut his eyes, deflated with a silent sigh… and nodded, expression pinched with contained emotion. “Go ahead, Mana-chan. If you please.”

The girl gulped, and slowly turned towards the thief… visibly steeling herself for what had to be done.

 _This isn’t right_ , Anzu thought, a pained, confused helplessness welling up in her throat. _He’s hurt us so much,_ **_wants_ ** _to hurt us again, but he shouldn’t die like_ **_this_** _!_

“B-Battle phase. Dark Magician Girl,” Mana began, prompting the monster to stand at the ready.

 _This isn’t right_ , Anzu repeated, her hands shaking with the conviction. _No!_ she wanted to scream, and _did_ scream within her own head- only for the sound be drowned out by another.

By another voice.

**Are you unwilling to watch undeserved death unfold before you?**

_Yes! I don’t want to see that_! she thought back, even as another part of her quaked with confusion at the unknown voice.

That voice that echoed with the same sensation that had _drawn_ her to that tunnel in the first place.

The sensation of wings, fluttering in the wind.

**Then do not watch. Reach out, find the will to resist, and call it to you!**

_How?_

**You** **_know_ ** **how. Stop trying to think with your mind, and** **_remember_ ** **with your** **_heart_** **.**

Re… remember…

Anzu’s eyes fluttered shut as she breathed around the voice, the instruction… felt within herself for awareness without explanation.

And something responded.

 _She_ responded… saw sands, clear waters, a burning sun and a shining smile she had half-forgotten.

Her heart ached.

“Attack Night Assailant!”

“No!!” Anzu cried out, drowning out Mana.

Only Jounouchi heard her or jolted with her scream, but _everyone_ looked up as a bright light burst to life right in the middle of the duel.

Dark Magician Girl sent forth her magic attack, only for it to hit that light- which took visible form just before it burst into nothing.

“What the- Consecrated Light?!” Mana blurted out, actively gawking at the spot where the light had just been.

“What… what is Consecrated Light?” Anzu asked, breathless with the question as her eyes glazed and her true question screamed through her head. _What did I just hear… What had I just_ **_do_** _?_

“It’s a Duel Monster! If you discard it from your hand, you can negate an attack from a dark monster and no damage is done,” Jounouchi explained, even as he too continued to stare at the duel field, utterly floored. “But… but who _used_ it? None of the duelists out there discarded anything! I would have seen!”

 _…They don’t know it was me_ , Anzu thought, relaxing just slightly with the realization.

But that relief was short lived, as she realized someone was _looking_ at her.

The Shade.

He was _staring_ at her, right through the fog… eyes sharp and glinting.

Her chest tightened as she stiffened, swallowed… waited.

“That was outside interference,” the Shade breathed, making all five shocked mortals - the risen dead included - turn his way… and follow his gaze to Anzu.

 _Jounouchi_ was the only one who could actually _see_ her, though, and he alone furrowed his brow in confusion. “Anzu…?”

She ignored him, biting her lip in dread of what might follow… only to jolt along with the rest of them as the shadow proclaimed, “The duel cannot continue, now that it is spoiled. It ends here.”

“What are you-” Bakura began to demand, only to get cut off by a great shift of shadows all about them. They rushed outward, blew out like a gale wind, forcing them to cover their faces against the sharp burn of it.

“ _Ghh…_ ” Anzu flinched, only to slowly relax as she realized the wind had stopped… everything had gone still.

Then a _thump_ made her uncover her eyes, and she saw- “Asar!”

The thief had collapsed.

He lay there above them, on his face, body still… cards drifting down from the loose fingers of an arm dangling over the edge of the tunnel opening.

The shadows and field had cleared away, the candles and the Shade were gone, Mana fell to her knees where she stood… and Bakura tucked away his cards, and rushed across the pit.

“Asar!”

He made it to the edge of the opening… but he couldn’t reach him. The thief was too high up.

He turned to Jounouchi, started to beg, “Hoist me up, please! I have to check if-”

But a choked, gurgling sound interrupted him.

The prone figure was moving… shaking.

Asar was laughing.

He lifted his head just enough to leer down at them, but his lavender eyes were too glazed over with exhausted pain to hold any venom. “I really… don’t get you, _yadonushi_ … You’re _worried_?” he taunted, blood dripping out of his mouth with every word.

Anzu could not see Bakura’s face, but there was an all-too clear tension in his back as he said, “You saved us.” Just that.

The thief sniffed, but dropped his chin back to the dirt, and they could not see his face anymore… but still he murmured down to them, “One of _you_ tried to save me… somehow… why?”

Anzu had gone stiff with the observation, but she softened again as she realized what exactly Asar had asked.

Not _how_ … but why.

No one answered, and after a breath the thief shook again with a laugh he couldn’t even voice. “ _Fools_ …”

Bakura’s hands clenched, only to loosen again as he replied with an even, firm, “You can call us that after we stop The Devourer, and save you properly. When you’re up again… _alive_ … you can call us fools then.”

Anzu half-expected a proper laugh, or at least a snort at that claim… but nothing followed.

Asar had gone properly silent.

She shut her eyes against the fear that struck her. That, like Amir, Asar was too injured to survive the fight, even _with_ life points left.

What did suspending a duel like _that_ mean, anyways?

But she had little time to contemplate the thought before Bakura turned and walked passed her, a stony focus in his eyes. “Jounouchi-kun, please give me a boost to the ladder.”

“-huh?” Anzu turned at Jounouchi’s voice, and discovered he was helping Mana sit down at the opening of one of the tunnels, where she could lean back against its wall for support.

Jounouchi stalled just as he was standing, and stared at Bakura. “W-what?”

“The ladder,” Bakura repeated, picking up the dropped cut section and holding it as he turned to his friend. “I will tie it back together, then come back down long enough to help you and Anzu-chan get up to that first tunnel. Then I will go get help.”

“What… what are you talking about, Bakura-kun?” Anzu breathed, mind racing to catch up to his instructions. They made _sense_ somehow, but trying to deconstruct the logic-

“Asar and Mana-chan need to go to the hospital,” he replied, a tense patience marking his face as he explained as calmly, but shortly as he could. “As soon as possible… and my phone will not work down here. I must go up and get that guard for help. But, the moment anyone else arrives down here, we won’t be able to explore… We probably won’t even be able to come back.”

“Shit,” Jounouchi breathed, glancing around to lock eyes with Anzu. “So, you want Anzu and I to-”

“Go ahead with the search, yes.”

“But-” Anzu started, her eyes dropping to meet those of the silent, clearly exhausted Mana. “You… you’ll be left here in this pit alone.”

Mana sniffed, and shot her a bright, if worn grin. “I can… handle a few minutes alone, Anzu-chan… Don’t go wasting all our efforts.”

“Mana…” Jounouchi breathed, only to earn the same grin plus a thumbs up from the girl. And in the face of that, he could only shake his head roughly and give Anzu a determined frown. “Come on, Anzu. You said you sensed something up there.”

She shut her eyes, and breathed around the truth of that… around her reluctant acceptance. “I did…”

“Then let’s stop wasting time and get up there.”

* * *

“What the hell are we even looking for?”

“I don’t know,” Anzu admitted, her heart high and heavy in her chest as she continued to lead Jounouchi down the long tunnel, the twin lights from their two flashlights playing havoc on her nerves as they bounced over the tunnel before them.

It felt like such a cruel waste of time, in its way. No, there wasn’t anything they could have actually _done_ by staying, as it took only one person to call for help, and Bakura was not near as injured as Mana… much less the thief… He would be fine. But still, with each step forward without clear reward, Anzu felt the weight of it. The weight of leaving her friends behind, and wandering blindly off into the darkness.

“You don’t think there’s be another zombie down here, do you?” Jounouchi asked, the hesitance in his voice making Anzu snort.

“Asar doesn’t look like a zombie, Jounouchi-kun. I… I think, he’s properly _alive_ , somehow.” Or would be, at least, so long as he didn’t die again…

“Even better! Do you think there’s any more _dead people_ back here who won’t stay _dead_?”

“I have no idea. Why? You want to turn back?”

“Pfft, as if.”

Anzu couldn’t help the faint smile that tugged at her lips, vaguely grateful to her friend for the distraction… but then she was brought sharply back into focus.

Because it was there again.

That… _feeling_.

She turned suddenly, making Jounouchi stumble into her shoulder.

“ _Gah-_ what the-? What gives?”

“ _Shh_!” she hissed, waving at him for silence as she stared… at a give in the path.

It looked like nothing more than a naturally shift in the wall. A point where the original diggers expanded the width of the tunnel by a couple of feet in one direction. The strange, faded paintings on the walls even continued along the cut, undisturbed…

But Anzu couldn’t help but stare.

She tilted her body to inspect the section of the wall that connected the shorter part of the hall to the wider one.

It was just a simple panel of rock wall, no more than two… maybe three feet wide. And there were even paintings on _that_ section, too.

But… the painting stopped at about her waist level.

The wall below it was smooth… undecorated…

“Anzu? What are you…” Jounouchi started, only to fall silent as Anzu gave into the urge to reach out and press against the wall.

It gave.

It fell in.

A hole just wide enough for a grown man to crawl through opened up.

“……… _How the hell did you even know to do that_?!”

The question was practically a screech, but Anzu didn’t even blink. She just… shook her head, staring at the opening. “I… I don’t know.” She had just… _known_.

She gulped.

“W-well,” Jounouchi started, shaking his head and ruffling his hair as he struggled to right his breath. “Okay… not the _weirdest_ thing I’ve seen tonight, I can at least give you that- Hey!”

Anzu didn’t answer. She was too busy getting down on her knees and crawling in.

There was no tunnel on the other side, for which she was grateful. As soon as she crossed through, the room opened up around her, and she was able to stand and hold up her light to look around.

She immediately screamed.

“Jounouchi!”

“W-what?! Shit, are you in trouble?! Just- _damnit_ -”

“N-no, just get in here!”

“What? Okay, okay, coming. Jeez… what?” he repeated as soon as he crawled through, righting himself at her side.

She jerked her light in a clear indication to _look_ , and he turned… gawked right along with her.

“What the _hell_ …”

It was a chamber.

A chamber filled to the brim with boxes and gold and furniture and other odds and ends Anzu couldn’t even identify, all neatly piled around the perimeter so that they did not obscure the paintings on the walls, or block their path to a doorway on their right.

Anzu could not see what was beyond that exit in the dark, but she did not really try. She was too busy staring at the walls around them.

The paintings… of…

“Isn’t that…” Jounouchi started, only to fall silent as Anzu edged her way closer, stepping around a chest to shine a light on the left wall.

And the first image.

Everything was vague, the figures largely featureless in that generic way of Egyptian art, where clothing and symbols seemed to identify people more than faces.

But… still… the scene was clear enough.

She could guess that the man shown was a king, or a god, and he stood over the chair of a seated queen, or goddess, who held out the wrapped form of an infant. The king and queen, or god and goddess, both faced two other forms, much smaller. One seemed to be a girl, with the same golden hair as the queen, but… the _other_ …

“Atem…” Anzu breathed, barely daring to make a sound in that dark chamber.

It had to be him. Even as small as the figure was, that _hair_ was unmistakable.

What…

“ _Anzu_.”

She looked up, only to realize that Jounouchi wasn’t looking at the same image she was.

He had moved on to one off to the right… and he was staring at it like he was seeing a ghost.

Anzu edged her way closer, not even asking as she looked instead to the wall-

And dropped her light.

Jounouchi’s still remained, though, and it showed the scene well enough on its own.

That king, or god again… holding out his hand to a mass of unfeatured tiny people, while behind him… behind him-

Two.

Two little figures… _both_ with spiked hair.

“How,” Jounouchi began, only to finish the question after swallowing. “How can there be two of them?”

“It’s him,” Anzu breathed, staring at the smaller of the two figures… the one _without_ a golden crown on his brow. “The brother…”

Atem had told them, after all, what he had seen.

About… _Yuugi_.

“But,” Jounouchi started, shaking his head violently. “Isis said they couldn’t find any sign of him!”

“I don’t think… anyone has ever been in here.”

Jounouchi had no response to that, and as he struggled to comprehend what he was seeing, Anzu moved on.

She picked up her light, and shone it across the other images in the room.

Most of them were too vague for her to understand, used symbolism she did not know, but she still tried to take them in. Again and again, she would see those same three figures. The king, Atem, and _Yuugi_ … going through different motions. But, towards the end of the first wall, it looked like Yuugi left, because she saw the king pointing away, off in the distance, with Atem at his side, and Yuugi walking in the direction indicated. The next few images showed Yuugi sitting before a line of older people, alongside other children. It… looked like a classroom of some sort… But then, the king and Atem appeared again, with Yuugi bowing before them.

“Jounouchi!”

“W-what?”

She waited until he composed himself and joined her, then pointed. “Look! It’s the Puzzle!”

And it was. The next image featured what was clearly the Millennium Puzzle, held up by the king before Atem and Yuugi both… as they stood side-by-side.

And right next to that, at the very end of the second wall, she saw it again… Atem and Yuugi, standing face to face, their hands joined over the Puzzle.

“Is… that them getting the Item?” Jounouchi asked, only for Anzu to shake her head.

“I don’t know… but look there-” she said, pointing to the first image on the last wall… the only image there, on that side of the unexplored doorway. “He left again.”

“Huh?” Jounouchi stepped around her, and stared with her at the image.

It was an almost exact replica of the scene Anzu saw earlier, where little ‘Yuugi’ walked away from the king and Atem.

But this time, they were not little children… They were fully grown, gold shining on their bodies, Atem clad in a robe of violet, Yuugi in red.

And… in the first image, Anzu had made out tiny tears on little Yuugi’s face.

In this one, his face was dry. Expressionless.

It was _Atem_ who seemed to be crying.

“What is this?” Jounouchi breathed, a hint of anger running beneath his words.

He didn’t like it- this image.

Neither did Anzu.

So she turned away from it, looked across the doorway to the last painting in the room.

It was rather simple, though, and hard to understand. It showed only Yuugi, alone, kneeling with his head bowed, body covered in that same robe of red. There was nothing around him at all.

What was _that_ supposed to represent?

“ _What the shit?!_ ”

Anzu jumped, and turned about- and realized she was alone. “Jounouchi?!”

“In here!”

She followed the voice, and realized he had gone through the doorway. Into the next room.

She huffed out her tension as she passed through herself. “Why did you go through alone? There’s no telling what could be in…”

She stopped.

Stared.

She was… in a new chamber.

With nothing inside of it.

Nothing to distract from the one, great painting that ran the length of the entire room.

“Is… is that supposed to be to _scale_?!” Jounouchi breathed, and Anzu could only shake her head, because she understood exactly why he asked.

There were two images running the full length of the wall.

On their left was a large, sprawling city, minutely detailed, starting with a great palace just at their elbow before sliding into temples and houses and modest shacks, until finally giving way to a river and desert at the far end of the wall.

And on their right… was a snake.

A great, white snake… that ran the whole length of the room.

As large as the city itself.

It… if that thing was ever _real_ … it couldn’t have been _that_ large, right?!

She didn’t know… and really, the question was washed from her mind after she stepped further into the room.

After she came close enough to see the far wall, where the two images met.

“ _What…_ ” Jounouchi breathed, and Anzu had to bite her lip to hold back her own reaction.

There was the head of the snake, its blue eye shining like a pale stone, its fangs bared, mouth open to swallow its chosen victim whole.

To devour it.

And there, on the other side of the wall?

There was Atem… riding on a horse, a sword bare in his hand.

And… there was _Yuugi_ … eyes shut, hands raised in both directions, standing in the _exact center_ , right between them… as if he meant to keep the snake and the rider away from each other.

As if he meant to stop a tidal wave from hitting the shore.

“This is it,” Anzu breathed, staring up into her friend… some _version_ of her friend’s face, an odd impulse hitting her to demand that he _open his eyes_. “This is The Devourer… and what happened.”

“But,” Jounouchi protested, shaking his head in vain denial. “They said the story was _Atem_ stopped The Devourer, not Yuugi! Or… whoever that is!”

Anzu had no answer for that. At least, nothing but the knot that grew without explanation in her gut.

So she said nothing. Just dropped her eyes… and stared through the opening she had ignored until now.

The doorway right below the painted Yuugi’s feet.

…She stepped through.

And she didn’t even hear it when Jounouchi followed behind her, as she saw what lay within the much smaller chamber.

Her feet went numb.

All of her went numb.

But nothing changed what she saw… what was inside.

A sarcophagus.

“…They,” Jounouchi started, voice catching, stalling for a breath before he finished speaking, there at her shoulder. “They already have, Atem’s body… right?”

Anzu could only nod… then slowly shake her head, as tears welled up in her eyes.

 _Yuugi_ …

“…It’s not him,” Jounouchi breathed, making Anzu finally turn and meet his eye- see that his were watering as her own. But still, he glared determinedly through the tears. “ _It’s not him, Anzu_. This… this is somebody born thousands of years ago, who… who _became_ Yuugi. We… we know Yuugi, _have_ Yuugi to find, _because_ this guy died. This… this is all in the past!”

“Then, why…” Anzu started, turning back to the golden coffin, with its vague features she couldn’t even _relate_ to her lost friend. “Why were we led here?”

Why did it _hurt so much_?

Jounouchi had no answer, and Anzu could only shake her head, turn her shoulder to look away from the sarcophagus and wipe away her tears.

But as she calmed enough to open her eyes, and look around… her gaze caught on it.

The only other thing in the chamber, right there by the door, sitting on a pedestal…

She stared at it for a long breath… then blindly handed her flashlight to Jounouchi.

“Huh? W-what are you doing?” sounded at her back, but she barely heard it. Didn’t even register it, as she stepped closer to the pedestal… and picked up what it held.

_Sands, rolling all about her. The heat of the sun and the relief of the wind._

_Music like none she had ever heard before, but knew like her own pulse._

_People starving at her fingertips, coughing up plague and begging for relief from the gods._

_The drum of the priests voices, crying out their prayers._

_A smile… a smile she knew then, and knew now._

_Loss… grief… outraged sorrow._

_A hero and a god, a king and a friend, all in one, raising her to her feet, looking her in the eye._

_Deep despair - deeper than her own, crippling pain - shining in those crimson eyes, wrapping around her heart and strangling it in regret._

_In hopelessness._

_A golden chest being pressed into her arms… her king’s hand grasping hers._

_Begging._

_“Please… give him honor. Honor him… as I cannot. Please…”_

_It wasn’t fair._

_It wasn’t right…_

_It isn’t right!_

“Anzu! Anzu!!”

“It’s not right!!” she screamed, balking and wrenching away from hands that would not let go.

“Stop it! What are you- Anzu!”

“ _No_! It’s not right, _it’s not right_!!”

“What are you saying?! Anzu, _please_!”

Hands tried to take _it_ from her hands, and she jerked it back towards her- and in the act, stumbled back to herself.

Stumbled back into… herself…

She blinked through the tears, and stared up into Jounouchi’s wet, stricken face. “W…what?”

Jounouchi shook his head, then deflated in his relief, falling down to his knees beside her.

Beside her…

When did she collapse?

“You were.. screaming gibberish. Like another language or something! What… what happened to you? Was it _that_?”

She didn’t answer… just looked down at the golden chest she had picked up.

A small, golden chest… two Kuribohs just visible in the indirect glow of the flashlight.

She stared at them… and started to sob.

Never knowing why.

“J-Jounouchi,” she stammered, heaving with each breath as she folded herself around the chest. “I… I don’t… I don’t understand…”

…He didn’t ask. Didn’t question her again.

Just wrapped himself around her, _and_ the chest, and pulled her up into his arms.

Held her as she cried out a grief she did not understand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> December 2017 Note: So, I realized in recent months that I have messed up some pretty key canon details with spirit magic I need to go back and fix- but even more than that, I'd really like to go back and bring the WHOLE story up to the editing quality of my more recent stories... but that's going to take a while, what with the 200K+ word count we have so far.
> 
> So... the story is currently on a clean-up hiatus, but I will alert you when I've fixed up the past chapters, and am back to working on new content!!


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